V 




i 



TRAGEDIES 



iESCHYLUS 



TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH PROSE, 



FROM THE TEXTS OF 



BLOMFIELD, AND SCHOLEFIELD. 



WITH NOTES. 



THE THIRD EDITION. 



OXFORD: 

o 

HENRY SLATTER, HIGH STREET : 

LONGMAN & CO.; WHITTAKER & CO.; SIMPKIN & MARSHALL; LONDON. 



1840. 



^ 



•?%u 



•^ 



RICHARD WATTS, CROWN COURT, TEMPLE BAR, LONDON 



The Five first Plays have been translated from 
the Text of Blomfield : the Two last, from that 

of SCHOLEFIELD. 



PROMETHEUS 



PERSONS OF THE DRAMA. 



STRENGTH. 

FORCE. 

VULCAN. 

PROMETHEUS. 

NYMPHS OF THE OCEAN. 

OCEANUS. 

IO. 

MERCURY. 



PROMETHEUS 



STRENGTH, FORCE, VULCAN, PROMETHEUS. 

STRENGTH. 

At length we are come to the remotest 1 plain of earth — to 
the regions of Scythia, and its unpeopled solitudes. • It is 
therefore your duty, O Vulcan, to fulfil the commands which 
the Father imposed on you, and to bind this malefactor to 
the lofty steeps of these rocks, in the indissoluble fetters of 
adamantine bonds. For having stolen your privileged 
ornament, the ray of all-inventive fire 2 , he bestowed the gift 
on mortals. It is therefore fit that he should atone, by 
punishment, for such an offence against the Gods ; that he 
may be taught to acquiesce in the sovereignty of Jupiter, 
and cease from displaying his benevolent disposition to- 
wards men. 

VULCAN. 

Strength, and Force 3 , the command of Jove, as far as 
regards you, is completed; and no further services remain : 

(1) The vast and barren mountains of Caucasus, where the scene of this 
drama is laid, was supposed, in the times of the Poet, to be the utmost 
limit of the habitable globe. Later ages saw a fatal proof of the existence 
of populous countries even beyond this barrier; for it was through the 
wild passes of Derbent, or Caucasia Partes, that the Huns poured, in such 
countless swarms, upon the devoted provinces of the Roman Empire. 

(2) " At peractis omnibus, quae constant ingenio, artem natura faciente, 
succurrit mirari, nihil psene non igni perfici." — Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xxxvi. c. 27. 

(3) "These two allegorical personages were of high antiquity and illus- 
trious birth, the sons of Pallas and Styx. Coeus, the son of Ouranus and 
Gaia, was the father of Pallas, by Eurybia, daughter of Pontus and Gaia : 
Styx was the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. When Jupiter assem- 
bled the Gods on Olympus, and declared his gracious intention to reward 

R 2 and 



4 .ESCHYLUS. 

but I have no heart to bind a kindred God, by force, to these 
rifted and inclement rocks. Still there is a strong necessity 
that I should assume courage for the task ; for it is danger- 
ous to slight the commands of the Father. High-minded son 
of sagacious Themis *, unwilling shall I rivet you unwilling, 
in the firm embrace of chains, to this desolate mountain ; 
where you shall neither hear the voice nor see the form of 
any mortal 2 ; but, scorched by the unclouded blaze of the 
sun, you shall lose the bloom of your complexion; and 
glad shall you be when the starry mantle of night shall hide 
the day, and when the sun shall again disperse the hoar- 
frosts of morning 3 ; for the weight of present affliction shall 
ever wear you away ; and he that shall alleviate your suffer- 
ings is not yet born 4 . Such is the recompence you receive 
for your friendly disposition towards men : for you, a God. 
not dreading the resentment of Gods, bestowed, unjustly, 
their honours on mortals. In punishment of these trans- 
gressions, you shall be fixed to the joyless station 5 of this 

and honour each that should be auxiliary to him in his wars against the 
Titans, Styx, by the advice of her father, was the first that attended 
him, leading with her these her two sons. Jupiter received her with 
great respect ; appointed her to be the sacred oath of the Gods ; and ad- 
mitted her sons to be constant attendants on his own person." — Potter. 

(1) " Hesiodus Prometheum Iapeti et Clymenes ; Apollodorus Iapeti 
et Asise; ^schylus autem, patre non nominate, Themidis filium facit." — 
Schutz. 

(2) The sufferings of the unhappy Prometheus are aggravated by being 
denied even the sympathy of mortals ; for the sake of whom he despises 
the threats of Jupiter, and braves the tortures of his ministers. 

(3) "In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and 
at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of 
thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes 
which thou shalt see." — Deut. xxviii. 67. 

(4) Garbitius and the Scholiasts suppose that Vulcan here alludes to 
Hercules; but Schutz gives the meaning of the passage much more 
rorrootly ■. " Nemo pla?i$ in rerum natura est, qui tc liberare vclit ant po$sit. y * — 
The secret of his destiny was confined to Prometheus; and it is absurd, 
at any rate, to suppose that Vulcan could penetrate a futurity which was 
dark to Jupiter. 

(5) " Sic. v. 143. <ppovpav afyjXov. Translationibus a re militari maxime 
delectatur ^schylus animosissimus poeta." — Butler. 



PROMETHEUS. 5 

rock, in upright posture, unvisited by sleep, and unable to 
recline your limbs ; and many unavailing lamentations and 
complaints you shall utter ; for the resolves of Jove may 
not be swayed by prayer ; and every one is harsh whose 
power is newly acquired. 

strength. — Enough : why do you delay, and express 
this vain compassion ? Why do you not hate the God most 
detested by Gods, who betrayed your honour to mortals 1 ? 

vulcan. — Our kindred blood, and our ancient inter- 
course, are strong ties of friendship. 

strength. — I agree with you : but how is it possible to 
disobey the command of the Father ? Do you not fear this 
more ? 

vulcan. — You are ever merciless, and full of audacity. 

strength. — For there is no good in bewailing his fate ; 
and do you cease to trouble yourself in vain with that 
which profits nothing. 

vulcan. — O skill of my hands, how much are you to be 
hated ! 

strength. — Why should you hate it ? for your art, to 
speak the truth, is no cause of his present ills. 

vulcan. — Would, however, that it had been allotted to 
the possession of some other ! 

strength. — There is pain in every thing, except in bear- 
ing rule among the Gods ; for no one is free, save Jupiter. 

vulcan. — I know it ; and I have nothing to allege to the 
contrary of what you say. 

strength. — Will you not, then, hasten to fasten the 
chains around him ; that the Father may not behold you 
delaying in your task ? 

vulcan. — See ! here are his fetters lying ready 2 . 

(1) " Incendere cupit Kparo? Vulcanum, dum ei domesticam injuriam 
a Prometheo acceptam in memoriam revocat." — Schutz. 

(2) Vulcan, it may be supposed, entered at the beginning of the scene, 

"Clavos trabales et cuneos manu f 

Gestans ahena ;" 

but, disgusted with the cruel task imposed on him, he has indignantly 
flung the instruments of torture on the ground. 



6 ^ESCHYLUS. 

strength. — Take them, then ; and with all your force 
clench them, with the hammer, on his hands, and rivet him 
to the rocks. 

vulcan. — This work hastens to completion, and is not 
delayed. 

strength. — Strike harder, wrench firmer, and leave 
him not in any quarter loose ; for he is skilful in devising 
escape, even from difficulties that seem insuperable. 

vulcan. — This arm at least is fastened, so that it can 
never get free. 

strength. — Secure now the other, also, with its clasp, 
that he may be taught how unequal are his devices to the 
wisdom of Jove. 

vulcan. — Except this sufferer, no one can justly blame 
my work l . 

strength. — Now drive with force, through his breast 2 , 
the remorseless fang of the adamantine wedge. 

vulcan. — Alas ! alas ! Prometheus, I grieve on account 
of your sufferings. 

strength. — Do you again delay, and lament for the 
enemies of Jove ? Beware, lest you have yet cause to 
sorrow for yourself ! 

vulcan. — You see a spectacle fearful for the eye to look on. 

strength. — I see this traitor only rewarded with what 
he deserved. But proceed, and fasten around his sides 
these iron girths. 

vulcan. — I am compelled to perforin this task : do not 
urge me unnecessarily. 

strength. — But I will urge you ; nay more, and chide 
you. Descend lower, and force the rings on his legs. 

(1) "Dicit adeb se bene vinxisse Prometheum, ut nemo queri possit 
pneter earn qui vinctus erat : in cujus perniciem sc. cedebat ars Yulcani, 
etin quern sure artis specimen patienti grave, ediderat." — Stanley. 

(2) Butler, in opposition to Schiitz and Blomfield, translates <rrepva>i/ 
Sia/jnral;, across his breast. Not only is the literal meaning of the word 
against him, but the expressions of compassion which immediately follow 
from Vulcan make it probable that it was the severer torture that «ru 
employed. 



PROMETHEUS. 7 

vulcan. — This work, too, is finished without long toil. 

strength. — Drive now, with force, the fetters through 
his feet ; for the overseer of this work is stern. 

vulcan. — Your tongue utters sentiments that accord 
with your shape. 

strength. — Be you as merciful as you please ; but do 
not reproach me with my resolute nature and, sternness 
of disposition. 

vulcan. — Let us go; for he has the toils around his 
limbs. 

strength. — Here, now, display your insolence ; and pil- 
fering the honours of the Gods, confer them on mankind ! — 
From which of these toils are mortals able to relieve you ? 
— The Deities have falsely bestowed on you the name of 
Prometheus ; for you yourself have need of a Prometheus, 
to devise the means by which you may be extricated from 
the art that has bound you \ 

prom. — O divine aether, and light-winged breezes, and 
fountains of rivers, and Ocean smiling with its countless 
waves 2 , and Earth our universal mother, and orb of the 
Sun that surveys all Nature 3 ! to you I make my appeal. 
Behold what indignities T, a God, suffer from the Gods ! 
Mark by what tortures racked I must endure their agony, 
for innumerable years 4 ; and what ignominious bonds the 
Ruler of the Gods hath devised to constrain me ! — Alas \ 
alas ! I groan both for my present and my coming ills 5 . 
Oh ! when is it fated that the close of these sorrows shall 

(1) This passage is to be construed, in the original : avrov <re Set UpofiT]- 
0eo)5, o? av irpofjirjOevoiTo ora> r/ooVw, Sec. 

(2) " Refertur ad levem sonum undarum ventis exagitatarum, qui etiam 
aliquantulum crispant maris dorsum quasi amabili quadam ye\a<riq." — 
Stanley. 

(3) " Omnia qui video, per quem videt omnia tellus, 

Mundi oculus." Ovid. Met. IV. 227. 

(4) " Supple Kara, tempore infinite, vel, adXevo-co xpovov, tolerabo, et 
magna, cum difficultate perferam, et superabo temporis diuturnitatem 
immensum." — Garb. 

(5) " Nee videt interea qui terminus esse malorum 

Possit, nee quae sis poenarum denique finis." Liicr. III. 1033. 



8 ^SCHYLUS. 

appear ? — And yet, what do I say ? I clearly know, before 
its time, every thing that is to come ; nor can any suffering 
reach me unforeseen. But it becomes me to bear my 
doom as calmly as possible, since I know that the force of 
necessity may not be resisted. It is thus impossible for 
me to speak, nor yet to refrain from speaking of my cala- 
mities ; for I am enthralled as the wretched victim of this 
inevitable doom, because I gave to men the honours of the 
Gods. My search discovered the fount of fire 1 , whose 
stolen treasures filled the cane 2 ; and which being made 
known to man, hath taught him every art, and opened to 
him infinite resources. By such a punishment I now atone 
for my transgressions, being here rivetted with chains, be- 
neath an inclement sky. But, ah ! what sound, what 
odour 3 faintly approaches me, proceeding from divinity, 
or from mortal, or from an union of these natures ? Does 
some Being seek this hill on the verge of the world, to be- 
hold my sufferings, or by what other purpose impelled? 
Behold in his bondage an ill-fated God, the enemy of 
Jove, and one who hath incurred the hatred of all the 
Gods that frequent the courts 4 of Jove, on account of lus 
rash affection for mortals. Alas ! alas ! what is this 

(1) " Scribit Theophrastus, idcirco dici Prometheum hominibus dedisse 
ignem coelo dereptum, quia philosophiam ac lumen vitre intellectualis, qua? 
divina est, mortalibus invexit." Ex Cic. Tusc. V. — Mobell. 

(2) Martial, in an epigram on the cane, alludes to this ingenious device 
of Prometheus : 

" Invisje nimium pueris gratfcque magistris 
Clara Prometheo munere ligna sumus." 
Hesiod and Apollodorus give the same circumstantial account of the 
fraud ; and, except Theophrastus believed that there was philosophy in a 
flogging, we cannot fancy how he managed to allegorize this part of the 
story. 

(3) " Credebant scilicet antiqui benigniora Numina odorem gratum 
fundere. Virg. JEn. I. 403 : 

" Ambrosiseque comse divinum vertice odorem 

Spiravere. " Giacomelli. 

(4) " Non temerc dicit ; sed ut ostendat illam subitam et universalem, 
quru est in aulicis, pro indignatione et gratin magnatum erga aliquem." — 
Garb. 



PROMETHEUS. 9 

fluttering of winged forms that I again hear near me ? 
The air gently murmurs with the light pinions that fan it : 
but every thing that approaches inspires me with fear. 

CHORUS. 

Fear nothing; for it is in friendship that our winged 
band hath approached this hill with the rivalry of speed, 
having with difficulty persuaded to our wishes the mind of 
our father : but swiftly have the breezes wafted me on my 
way ; for the echoing clang of iron penetrated the depths 
of our caverns, and banished from my cheek the blush of 
reserve; and hither have I rushed, unsandalled \ in my 
winged car. 

prom. — Alas ! alas ! ye daughters of fruitful Tethys, 
sprung from her embraces with your father Oceanus 2 , who 
pours around the whole world his restless streams, here 
turn your eyes, and behold by what a chain enclasped I 
shall keep no enviable watch on the highest peaks of this 
cleft rock ! 

chorus. — I see, O Prometheus ! and the cloud of fear 
hath settled on my eyes, filling them with tears, as I 
behold your body withering away on the rocks in the tor- 
tures of these adamantine bonds: for new Rulers bear 
sway in Olympus; and Jove, without regard to justice, 
maintains his power by laws of his own invention, setting 
at nought all that was in earlier time revered. 

prom. — Would that he had sent me beneath the earth, 
and the mansions of the dead in Hades, to the boundless 
Tartarus, having forced upon me cruel and indissoluble 

(1) Potter informs us, on his own authority, that "the Nymphs of the 
Waters wore no sandals." In this case, it would have been very idle in 
the Chorus to have mentioned to Prometheus that they came to visit him 
in their usual undress. It is quite obvious, that they simply mean to ex- 
press the haste of their departure from Ocean ; and that they would have 
come with their sandals, had not their affectionate alarm forbidden them to 
delay. — In like manner, Theocritus, Idyl. xxiv. 36 : 

Av<rra, fxtjSe nro$eo-<ri reot? viro crdvSaXa 9eit]<;. 

(2) " Duxerat Oceanus quondam Titanida Tethyn, 

Qui terram liquidis qua patet ambit aquis." 

6v, Fast. iv. 81. 



10 .ESCHYLUS. 

bonds, so that neither a God nor any other might have 
exulted in my misery ! But now I, wretched, the sport of 
the winds \ endure calamities that give joy to my enemies. 

chorus. — Who of Gods is so hard-hearted as to expe- 
rience joy at your sufferings ? Who is there, except Jove 2 ; 
who does not sympathize with your sorrows ? But he, ever 
sternly displaying an inflexible spirit, compels to submis- 
sion the race of heaven ; nor will he cease, until he have 
satiated his heart, or some other shall acquire by stratagem 
the difficult possession of his throne. 

prom. — The Ruler 3 of the Gods, however, shall yet have 
need of me, though now enduring torture in these stub- 
born chains, to reveal to him the new counsel by which he 
shall be deprived of his sceptre and his honours. But 
neither shall he soften my purpose by the charms of per- 
suasion's honeyed words ; nor shall I, through dread of his 
violent threats, disclose what he wishes, until he release me 
from these cruel fetters, and be willing to make atonement 
for this wanton wrong. 

chorus. — You, indeed, are both bold, and do not in the 
slightest degree yield to your bitter sufferings, but vent 
too freely your indignation. The thrilling emotions of 
fear, therefore, distract my soul; and I tremble for your 
fate, in uncertainty of the time when it is destined that you 
shall behold in the harbour of safety the close of these 
afflictions : for the son of Saturn has a disposition that 
yields not to mercy, and a heart whose purpose may not 
be bent by prayer. 

prom. — I know that Jupiter is harsh, and controuls 
justice according to his own will; but still he shall, on 
some future day, bear a more humble mind, when he shall 

( 1 ) " Each on his rock transfix'd, the sport and play 

Of racking whirlwinds." Paradise Lost, II. 181. 

(2) " At'xa Se Ato?. Si nimirum a Jove discesseris ! ye est scilicet."' Sen utz. 

" Errat vir doctus, Afya ye Ato? reddendum est potius, uno tamen 

excepto Jove, vel, si Jovem sal/em exceperis." Butler. 

(3) The term nrpvravi<; is applied contemptuously ; as if he had s:ud. 
11 This Magistrate of the Gods." 



PROMETHEUS. 11 

have been crushed beneath the doom which I foresee : then 
shall he subdue the violence of his rage, and eagerly join 
with my eager wishes in hastening to friendship and re- 
conciliation. 

chorus. — Disclose, and plainly declare to us, the whole 
tale; in what crime Jupiter having detected you, thus 
ignominiously and cruelly tortures you. Make it known 
to us, provided you are not injured in any respect by 
telling what we ask. 

prom. — The tale is both painful for me to tell, and 
painful to conceal, and full of grief in every way it can be 
viewed. From the first moment that wrath was kindled 
in heaven, and discord awoke among its different Powers, 
some wishing to dispossess Saturn of his throne that 
Jupiter forsooth might reign, and others on the contrary 
striving that Jupiter might never obtain command over 
the Gods, then I, having formed the wisest counsels, endea- 
voured, but in vain, to persuade the Titans, the offspring 
of Ouranus and Terra ; for they, despising, in their stub- 
born pride, the craft of my skilful designs, thought that 
without difficulty they should gain by their force the so- 
vereign power. But my mother Themis and Terra 1 , one 
being distinguished by many names, had foretold to me, 
more than once, in what way the future event should be 
decided ; that it was not by strength or force, but by guile, 
that it was fated for those who conquered to prevail ; and 
yet, though I explained to them the method by my words, 
they would not deign to pay me any regard. It therefore 
seemed to me best, in these circumstances, having taken 
counsel with my mother, to join, a willing and welcome 
ally, in assisting Jove : and by my counsels the dark and 
deep abyss of Tartarus encloses the ancient Saturn 2 , with 

(1) Themis is represented in the Eumenides (v. 3) as the daughter of 
Terra. 

(2) Homer has in like manner assigned this dismal abode to Saturn : 

iv 'Ia7rero9 re Kpouoq re 

f/ Hjuevof, ovr' avyw 'Ynrepiovoq ^eXioio 

Tep-irovr\ our' avenourC j3a0v<; Be re Taprapos afx<pU. 11. 6. 479. 



12 AESCHYLUS. 

all who fought on his side. The Ruler of the Gods, after 
having received such benefits at my hands, requites me 
with these cruel punishments in return : for the distrust of 
friends is a malady that is somehow inherent in absolute 
power \ But, as to what you ask, on what ground of 
accusation he tortures me, I will now make this clear to 
you. As soon as he had taken his seat on his father s 
throne, he immediately distributes various honours to va- 
rious Gods, and assigns to each, in order, the extent of his 
power : but of wretched mortals he took no account ; and 
designed, after having annihilated the whole race, to plant 
a new kind in their place. No one opposed these pur- 
poses, except me : but I had courage for the task, and 
saved mortals from descending to Hades by a violent de- 
struction. It is therefore that I am bowed beneath these 
sufferings, which are painful to be endured, and melan- 
choly to be seen. I, who displayed pity for mortals, am 
not considered worthy of pity in my turn ; but have here, 
without mercy, been enchained — a spectacle that reflects 
little honour on Jove. 

chorus. — He is of iron mind, and formed from the rock, 
whoever, O Prometheus, sympathizes not with your sor- 
rows ; for I would rather that I had not seen such horrors ; 
and seeing them, I have been grieved in my soul. 

prom. — Yes, I am indeed a mournful spectacle for my 
friends. 

chorus. — Did you not, in some respects, proceed even 
farther than you have told ? 

prom. — I was the cause that mortals ceased from fore- 
seeing their fate 2 . 

chorus. — Having discovered what remedy for this pest? 

prom. — I implanted blind hopes 3 in their bosoms. 

( 1 ) "In ethicis sententiis ubique iEschylum noscas, hominem nempe, 
Atheniensem, libera) reipublicrc civem, fortem, prudentem." — Jo. M Tiller. 

(2) " Prudens futuri temporis exitum 

Caliginosa nocte premit deus." Hor. Lib. III. Od. xxix. 

(3) "An, quibus mortales esse obliviscimur, rerum gcrendnrum utenda- 
rumque vani in longum prospectus? An mavis cultiores de immortalitatc 

obscurant 



PROMETHEUS. 13 

chorus. — You bestowed, in this, a mighty benefit on 
men 1 . 

prom. — In addition to these gifts, I furnished them with 
fire 2 . 

chorus. — And do the creatures of a day now enjoy 
the bright radiance of fire ? 

prom. — Yes ; and from that possession they shall acquire 
the knowledge of many arts. 

chorus. — Is it for such causes of complaint that Jupiter 
tortures you, and never grants you a respite from misery? 
Is there no limit of suffering appointed for you ? 

prom. — No ; there is no other, than when it shall seem 
good to him. 

chorus. — But how shall it seem good to him? What 
hope can you entertain ? Do you not see you have erred ? 
But how you have erred, it were neither pleasant for me to 
tell, and would be painful for you to hear. Let us for- 
bear this subject; and do you seek some means of escape 
from your sufferings. 

prom. — It is easy for him who enjoys a path apart from 
calamity, to admonish and advise the victim of an unhappier 
fate 3 . But I knew all that awaited me. Of my own accord 
I erred, I will not deny it. In relieving mortals, I brought 

obscuram expectationem cepisse ? Nam spes, quam fraudem, laborioso ge- 
neri in beneficium contulisse videri mallet." — Jo. Muller. 

" Posteriorem interpretationem utpote elegantissime et exquisitissime 
excogitatam, amplectimur, prsesertim cum mythologia apprime conveniat ; 
de qua vide Dram. Pers." — Butler. 

( 1 ) c A yap Srj xoA.v7rA.a7/cT09 eAxk 

FIoAAo?? juev ovtjcriq av^pcav. Soph Antig. v. 625. 

(2) " Audax Iapeti genus 

Ignem fraude mala gentibus intulit," Hor. Lib. I. Od. iii. 

(3) " Hei mihi ! quam facile est, quam vis hoc contigit omnes 

Alterius luctu fortia verba loqui." Ovid. Eleg. in Drusum, v. 9. 

" Facile omnes, cum valemus, recta consili aaegrotis damus." 

Terent. Andr. II. I . 



14 AESCHYLUS. 

suffering on myself. I did not dream, however, that I 
should be wasted away, by such a punishment, on these 
lofty rocks, being fixed to this desolate and unfrequented 
hill. — And yet, do not lament my present afflictions ; but, 
descending to the plain, hear my coming misfortunes, that 
you may learn thoroughly the whole that awaits me. Obey 
me, obey me, and bestow your sympathy on the griefs that 
now oppress me ; for in the same way, Misfortune, in her 
varying course, now takes up her abode with one, and 
now with another ! . 

chorus. — You have urged this request, O Prometheus, 
on those who are willing to comply with it : and now, for- 
saking with light foot my rapid car, and the pure air through 
which the birds wing their flight, I will approach to this 
rocky soil ; for I am anxious to hear fully of all your suf- 
ferings. 

OCEANUS. 

I am come to you, Prometheus, having reached the goal 
of a lengthened journey, and having directed, without need 
of the bit, the swift flight of this bird 2 by instinct. But 
know that I sympathize in your misfortunes ; for both the 
tie of kindred 3 , I think, constrains me to such feeling; 
and, even without considering that our blood is the same, 
there is no one to whom I should be inclined to accord a 
greater share of affection than to you. But you shall 
know that these words are true, and that it is not in my 
nature to use kind language with hollow purpose: for 
come now, tell me in what it is of consequence for me to 
aid you, and you shall never have reason to say that you 
have a more staunch friend than Oceanus. 

prom. — Ha ! how is this ? Are you also come to behold 

(1) Vid. Blomf. Gloss. 283. 

(2) The wild and marvellous scenes of this play are puzzling to a 
French comprehension. Brumoy is particularly distressed at the man- 
ner in which Oceanus thinks fit to travel: "II paroit monte sur je ne 
scai quel animal ailc ; bizzarrerie inexplicable." 

(3) Iapetus, the father of Prometheus, was the brother of Oceanus. 



PROMETHEUS. 15 

my sufferings ? How have you ventured, having left the 
stream that bears your name, and its caves wrought by 
nature in the o'er-arching rock, to approach to * Earth, the 
mother of iron ? Have you come to contemplate my mis- 
fortunes, and to sympathize in my sorrows ? Lo, then, be- 
hold the friend of Jove, the ally who established his 
throne, beneath what a weight of woe I am bowed by his 
command ! 

oceanus. — I see, O Prometheus; and, wise 2 as you are, 
I wish to give you the best advice. Know yourself, and 
adopt new manners ; for there is a new king among the 
Gods. If you shall thus vent harsh and indignant words, 
perhaps Jupiter, though seated so far on high, may hear 
you; so that the present sufferings, which his wrath has 
imposed, shall appear as sport 3 in comparison of the future. 
But banish, O wretched being, the fierce spirit you now 
bear, and seek a release from these afflictions. Perhaps 
what I urge upon you may seem old-fashioned ; but such, 
however, are the rewards, O Prometheus, of the tongue 
that uses too haughty language : for you are not yet 
humble, nor submissive to your misfortunes, but seem in- 
clined to draw down others in addition to the present. 
You will not, if you follow my counsel, kick against the 
pricks 4 , seeing that a severe and absolute monarch holds the 
power. And now, indeed, I go ; and I will try, if I be able, 
to free you from these sufferings. But do you remain 
quiet, and not give too free reins to your tongue. Do you 

(1) Or "this Earth," as denoting Scythia, from which the Chalybians 
first extracted iron. 

(2) TiKre 5' inrepKvdavra Mevoiriov, »}de TLpofjiijdea 

UoikiXov, aio\6fjiT)Tiv. Hes. Theog. v. 510. 

(3) "Ilcu&av, Child's play. Grsecorum proverbium est, cum duorum 
alteram alteri longe anteponunt, Traidia <j>atvoiTo otv ecvat, vel Ajj/oo?" ut docet 
Casaub. Animadv. ad Athenseum, p. 70." — Jac. Tate. 

(4) See Act. Apost. ix. 5.— and Pind. Pyth. II. 173. 

TTOTt Kevrpov <$e roi 

AaKTi^e/uev, reKeOei 
'OAf<r0>//oos oiwo?. : — 



16 AESCHYLUS. 

not, with all your wisdom, well know, that punishment is 
inflicted on the imprudent tongue ' ? 

prom. — I consider you enviable ; because you have 
escaped the blame, though you shared all my plans, and 
dared equal attempts 2 . But now leave me to my fate, nor 
let my release be a care to you ; for assuredly you shall 
not persuade him, since his purpose is not easily changed. 
But do you look out for yourself, lest you suffer any harm 
in consequence of this journey. 

oceanus. — You are much better skilled by nature to 
school others than yourself. I draw my certain proof of 
this from fact, and not merely from words. But you shall 
by no means divert me from the purpose I am so eager 
to pursue : for I trust, I confidently trust, that Jove will 
grant me this boon, so as to release you from these suf- 
ferings. 

prom. — I praise, and shall never cease to praise you, 
for your intentions ; for you shew no lack of zeal in my 
service. But spare yourself the trouble ; for your labour, 
however willing you might be to bestow it, would be 
thrown away, and be of no profit to me. Rather remain 
quiet, and keep yourself out of the danger ; for though I am 
myself in adversity, I would not on this account wish my 
misfortunes to extend to numbers of others. Oh, surely no ! 
for already I am deeply pained by the sufferings of my bro- 
ther Atlas, who stands in the regions of the West supporting 
on his shoulders the pillars of heaven and earth 3 , no easy 
burden for the arms. And I was moved to pity, as I saw 
subdued by force the earthborn inhabitant of the Cilician 

(1) 'Axa\ivoov c-TOfxaroiv 
'Avojxov r' a.<ppo<rvva<; 

To reAo? dvarvxta. Eurip. Bacch. v. 385. 

(2) " In omnibus, qiue egerat Prometheus, adjutorem sibi habuerat 
Oceanum. Quare hie miratur quod eum non punierit Jupiter, ut nunc 
puniebatur ipse. Nescio an alii Mythologi idem dicant." — Pauw. 

(3) ' AtAck <5 Qvpavov evpvv e'xe* Kparepfjs u7r' avayiojq, 
Ilistpao-tv ev yaujq, irpoirap 'Ea-rrepiSoov \tyv$&vtav. 

lies. Theop. v. 517. 



PROMETHEUS. 17 

caves *, the monster hostile to heaven, impetuous Typhon 
of the hundred heads, who opposed the Gods in fight, 
breathing slaughter from his horrible jaws ; and from his 
eyes there flashed an appalling glare, as if he were about 
to overthrow by force the empire of heaven. But the 
sleepless bolt of Jupiter smote him — the down-descending 
thunder with its breath of flame, which quickly drove him 
from such haughty boasts : for, being stricken to the very 
soul, his strength was reduced to ashes, and blasted by the 
power of the thunder; and now his helpless form lies 
outstretched near the straits of the sea, crushed beneath 
the roots of iEtna 2 . But Vulcan, seated on the summits of 
the mountain, forges the glowing mass ; whence, in after- 
times, shall rivers of fire be disgorged, to devour, with their 
fell jaws, the level meads of fair and fertile Sicily 3 . Typhon, 
though reduced to ashes by the thunderbolt of Jove, will 
thus pour forth his rage in the fiery darts of a resistless 
and fire-breathing tempest. — But you are not ignorant, 
from want of experience ; nor do you require me to warn 

(1) Pindar describes his residence in nearly the same words, Pyth. I. 31. 

(2) In the first Pythian Ode, to which we have just referred, the body 
of Typhon is described as extending even to the shores of Italy: and Ovid 
(Metamorph. V. 346) has indulged in a similar strain of poetical exag- 
geration : — 

" Vasta giganteis ingesta est insula membris 
Trinacris ; et magnis subjectum molibus urget 
JSthereas ausum sperare Typhoea sedes. 
Nititur ille quidem, pugnatque resurgere ssepe : 
Dextra sed Ausonio manus est subjecta Peloro ; 
Laeva, Pachyne, tibi ; Lilybseo crura premuntur ; 
Degravat JEtna caput, sub qua resupinus arenas 
Ejectat, flammamque fero vomit ore Typhoeus. 
Ssepe remoliri luctatur pondera terrse, 
Oppidaque et magnos evolvere corpore montes." 

(3) iEschylus spent the latter part of his life in Sicily, at a time when 
the eruptions of iEtna were very frequent and violent. Muller has' there- 
fore remarked, with justice: "Sic ultimum hanc tragcediam suspiceris 
laborem ; quo etiam facto ad omnes homines, quam ad Atticos ritus et 
Grjecos heroas magis pertinet. Senis vividissima mens, tanto operi par y 
admirationem incutit.^ 

C 



18 .ESCHYLUS. 

you. Save yourself, then, by such means as you know how 
to use ; and I will endure my present fortune, until his 
wrath subside in the spirit of Jove. 

oceanus. — Are you not aware, O Prometheus, that rea- 
soning has a power to heal the distempers of passion ? 

prom. — It has, if one shall soften the heart at the pro- 
per season, and not reduce by force the swellings of 
anger. 

oceanus. — Tell me, do you see any harm in foresight 
and in daring ? 

prom. — Superfluous toil, and unreflecting folly. 

oceanus. — Suffer me to be afflicted with this malady, 
since it is best that one who counsels wisely should not ap- 
pear to be wise. 

prom. — This will appear to be my fault. 

oceanus. — Your words plainly direct that I should re- 
turn home. 

prom. — Because I am afraid, lest the compassion you 
have expressed for me should involve you in enmity. 

oceanus. — Do you mean, with him who has lately taken 
his seat on the throne of omnipotent command ? 

prom. — Beware, lest his heart be displeased. 

oceanus. — Your calamity, O Prometheus, is a warning 
to me. 

prom. — Away ! depart ! preserve your present sentiments. 

oceanus. — You have enjoined these commands on me 
as I am hastening to return ; for the quadruped bird al- 
ready grazes with his wings the liquid path of air, and 
gladly will he recline his limbs in his native stalls of Ocean. 

chorus. — I pity you, O Prometheus, on account of your 
calamitous fortune ; and a stream of tears, descending from 
my fast-flowing eyes, bedews my cheek with the liquid 
gush of sorrow : for Jupiter, commanding this harsh doom 
by virtue of his own laws, wields a haughty sceptre over 
the Gods who preceded him in power. Already hath 
the whole land uttered the voice of sorrow, lamenting the 
boasted pride and ancient dignity of your honour and that 
of your kindred; and all the mortals who inhabit the 



PROMETHEUS. 19 

regions that extend over sacred Asia sympathize in your 
deeply-mournful sufferings ; both the virgins, undaunted 
in fight, who dwell in the Colchian land ; and the tribes of 
Scythia who occupy around the Lake Mseotis the remotest 
regions of earth ; and the warlike flower of Arabia 1 , who 
have their home and country amid the lofty precipices that 
border on Caucasus — a martial band, that rush wdth fury 
to the conflict of the pointed spear. I have before seen 
only one other God subject to the tortures of adamantine 
bonds — the Titan Atlas ; who ever, exerting transcendent 
strength, supports on his shoulders, with groaning toil, the 
solid pole of heaven. The billows of the sea moan, as they 
dash together ; its depths murmur ; the dark abyss of Orcus 
sends forth, from beneath the earth, a troubled sound ; and 
the fountains of sacred streams wail as they flow, for that 
anguish and that sorrow. 

prom. — Do not think that I am silent through pride or 
a stubborn spirit ; but, seeing myself thus ignominiously 
treated, I am pained by the reflections of my mind : for 
who, but I, entirely distributed their honours to these new 
Gods ? But, as to these favours, I am silent, for I should 
relate to you what you know : but listen to the evils that 
existed among mortals — how I implanted in them, who were 
before in the ignorance of infancy, the power of intellect, 
and the capability of knowledge 2 : and I will tell you the tale, 



(1) In an able article on Blomfield's edition of this play, in the Edin- 
burgh Eeview, No. 33, the critic has himself favoured us with the fol- 
lowing note : — " Cum tota Chori oratio in Maris Euxini accolis recensendis 
versetur, jure mirantur interpretes, unde hsec Arabise mentio. Nonnulli 
ad emendationem confugiunt, quorum conjecturas memorare supersedeo. 
Magis placet Butleri sententia, qui ostendere conatur nomen Arabia) 
latius olim quam vulgb creditur patuisse. Sed nolim hanc quaestionem 
nimis curiose tractare. Nam verisimile est iEschylum geographise nihilo 
peritiorem fuisse tragico nostrate, qui oram Bohemise maritimam memorat." 

(2) Prometheus only claims for himself the merit of having taught 
civilization and the use of reason to mankind, and does not at all allude 
to the common fable of his having actually formed the original race from 
clay. In the former character he was worshipped by the Athenians 

C 2 along 



20 /ESCHYLUS. 

not to reflect any blame on men, but to explain my kind 
intention in the gifts I bestowed on beings who, at first, had 
eyes and saw not ; ears had they, and heard not l ; but, like to 
the shapes of dreams 2 , left for long their whole course of 
life to chance and confusion, and neither knew how to con- 
struct houses of brick with their fronts to the sun, nor yet 
the art of working in wood ; but dwelt beneath the earth, 
like the tiny ant, in the sunless depths of caves 3 : and 
they knew no certain sign of winter, or of flowery spring, 
or of fruitful summer, but pursued all their occupations 
without discernment, until I explained to them the risings of 
the stars and their mysterious settings. Besides, I first dis- 
covered for them numbers, the highest of inventions 4 ; and 
the structure of a written language ; and Memory, the 
mother of the Muse, effective in every art. And I was the 
first who bound in harness animals made obedient to the 
yoke; and, in order that they might prove, by their strength, 
the substitutes for mortals in the greatest toils, I taught 
the steeds to be guided by the rein in chariots 5 , the orna- 
ments of wealth and luxury. And no one before me in- 
vented the bark of the mariner, that traverses the sea with 
its canvas wings. Yet I, who was the author of these 
inventions to man, have not, in my own misery, any device 

along with their tutelary Goddess : and his temple, in the Academia, re- 
ceived equal honours. 

(1) See Isaiah vi. 9. Matt. iii. 13, 14. 

(2) " We are such stuff 

As dreams are made of." Shak. Tempest, Act. IV. 

(3) " Laterarias domos constituerunt primi Euryalus et Hyperbius 
fratres Athenis ; antea specus erant pro domibus." Plin. vii. 56. The 
same author represents Deedalus as having first taught the art of working 
in wood ; and Sophocles, in a Fragment preserved by Achilles Tatius, 
ascribes to Palamedes the inventions of Astrology and Numbers, which 
Prometheus proceeds to enumerate among the many benefits which he 
bestowed on men. 

(4) Abreschius has translated this most villainously: " Arithmctieam omni 
fraude superiorem." 

(5) "Primus Ericthonius currus et quatuor ausus 

Jungere equos." I' in/. Georg. III. 113. 



PROMETHEUS. 21 

by which I can obtain relief from the sufferings [which 
oppress me. 

chorus. — You have been subjected to undeserved cala- 
mity : but you wander apart from wisdom; and, like an un- 
skilful physician, having fallen into disease, you despair, and 
are not able to discover by what remedies your cure is to 
be wrought. 

prom. — Hearing the rest of my benefits, you will be still 
more surprised at the arts and inventions I contrived. And 
this not the least : if any one was assailed by disease, there 
was no specific against it, either in food, unguent, or 
draught, but the sick fell away through want of medicine, 
until I taught them to compound soothing restoratives, by 
which they might be able to repel all maladies *. I marked 
out, also, various modes of divination ; and first determined 
what dreams would prove true ; and made clear to them the 
hidden interpretation of ominous sounds, and of meetings 
by the way 2 ; and plainly pointed out the distinction in the 
flight of birds with crooked talons, both those which are 
propitious in their nature, and those which are ill-omened, 
and what kind of life they each lead, and what are their 
mutual enmities and sympathies and intercourse ; and the 
smoothness of the entrails, and what colour they must 
have to be pleasing to the Gods; and the various shapes 
that were fortunate in the gall and liver : and having con- 
sumed with fire the limbs enclosed in the fat and the long 
loin, I shewed mortals a path through the difficulties of 
this art ; and I revealed to them the inferences to be drawn 
from the blaze 1 of flame, which were before hidden from 
their knowledge. Such was, in part, the nature of my 
gifts : and who can assert that he discovered before me 
the benefits for mankind that lie concealed beneath the 

(1) Apollo disputes the honour of this invention with Prometheus : - 

" Inventum medicina meum est ; opiferque per orhem 
Dicor, et herbarum subjecta potentia nobis." Ovid. Met. I. 521. 

(2) " Obvia signa quse fausta aut infausta in itinere occurrunt ; quale 
Xerxi de equa leporem pariente, et Agamemnoni de aquilis leporem voran- 
tibus, in Agam. v. 120." — Stanley. 



22 .ESCHYLUS. 

earth — brass, and iron, and silver, and gold ? no one, I am 
sure, who does not wish to talk idly and falsely ! ! But, in 
a few words, you shall learn at once the extent of my 
benefits : there is no art among men that is not derived 
from Prometheus. 

chorus. — Do not, I pray you, aid mortals beyond what 
is fitting, and then manifest a want of care for your own 
misfortunes ; for I cheer myself with the hope, that you 
shall yet escape these bonds, and become in power not in- 
ferior to Jove. 

prom. — The fate that consummates all events has not 
decreed that your hopes should be thus fulfilled: but I 
shall only escape my chains after having been crushed by 
infinite sufferings and woes ; for art is, by far, weaker than 
necessity. 

chorus. — Who, then, holds the sway of necessity ? 

prom — The triple Fates, and vengeful Furies. 

chorus. — Is Jupiter, then, weaker than those Powers ? 

prom. — He cannot escape at least the decrees of Fate. 

chorus. — For what is decreed for Jupiter, except eternal 
empire ? 

prom. — This you may not yet know ; so persist not in 
inquiring. 

chorus. — Is it some important mystery that you conceal ? 

prom. — Bethink yourself of some other subject ; for the 
time is not yet come to declare what you seek : but, on 
the contrary, it must be concealed with all care ; for by 
preserving this secret I shall gain an escape from my 
galling chains and sorrows. 

chorus. — May Jupiter, the ruler of the universe, never 
array his power in opposition to my will ! nor may I fail 
to approach the Gods with sacred festivals of slaughtered 

(1) Pliny (vii. 56) has ventured, notwithstanding these hard words of 
Prometheus, to ascribe the discovery of the metals to others : — " Ferrum 
Hesiodus in Creta eos qui vocati sunt Dactyli Idan. Argentum invenit 
Ericthonius Atheniensis, ut alii iEacus. Auri metalla et confiaturani 
Cadmus Phoenix ad Pangamm montem ; ut alii, Thoas et iEaclis in Panchaia, 
aut Sol Oceani films." 



PROMETHEUS. 23 

victims beside the inexhaustible streams of my father 
Oceanus ! nor may I sin in my words ; but may this prin- 
ciple remain to me, and never feel decay ! There is a cer- 
tain charm in spending a long life in cheering hopes, and 
in buoying up the soul with joyous hilarity ; but I shudder 
as I behold you racked by innumerable pains. For not 
fearing Jove, O Prometheus, you are led, by your self- 
will, to pay too much regard to mortals. Tell me, then, 

friend, if that favour be not requited with ingratitude ; 
or where there is any advantage to be derived from it ? 
What aid can mortals afford ? Have you not discovered 
how feeble, and how like a dream, is the imbecility which 
enshackles the blind race of men ? Never can the counsels 
of mortals transcend the settled laws of Jove. I have 
been convinced of this truth, O Prometheus, by seeing 
the misery of your lot. How different is the strain that 
now greets you, the present from the past, when beside 
the bath and your bridal couch I awoke the nuptial hymn, 
amid the mirth of the festival, at the time when you gained 
our sister Hesione for your bride, having won her by your 
gifts to become the wedded partner of your bed ! 

10. 
What land is this ? — what race ? — Whom shall I say that 

1 here behold, exposed to the storm, and fettered to the 
rock ? For what transgression does this punishment de- 
stroy you? Tell me to what part of the world I have 
wandered in my misery. Ah ! ah ! again the gadfly * en- 
venoms my wretched body. O earth ! avert the spectre 
of the earthborn Argus ! I shudder as I behold the herds- 
man of the hundred eyes; for he follows me with his 
guileful aspect ; and not even in death does the earth con- 
fine him ; but, passing from the Shades, he closely pursues 

(1) " Asper, acerba sonans ; quo tota exterrita sylvis 
Diffugiunt armenta ; furit mugitibus sether 
Concussus, sylvseque et sicci ripa Tanagri. 
Hoc quondam monstro horribiles exercuit iras 
Inachise Juno pestem meclitata juvencse." 

Virg. Georg. III. 147. 



24 jESCHYLUS. 

his unhappy victim, and forces me to wander, famished, 
along the sands of the sea ; while his pipe, compacted of 
the reeds with wax, pours forth a murmuring sound, as it 
awakes its drowsy measures. Alas, alas, ye Gods ! — where, 
O Gods, where do these lengthened wanderings conduct 
my steps ? Of what sin, O Son of Saturn, having ever 
found me guilty, hast thou bowed me beneath the yoke of 
these sufferings ? Alas ! alas ! why dost thou thus torture 
me to phrensy, through wretched terror of that maddening 
sting ? Consume me with thy flame, or bury me beneath 
the earth, or give me as a prey to the monsters of the 
deep ; but do not, O king, be unwilling to grant me these 
prayers ! Sufficient hath been the toil of my many wan- 
derings ; and still I know not how I can find relief from 
calamity. — Hearest thou the voice of the virgin that bears 
the heifer's form 1 ? 

prom. — How should I not liear the virgin maddened by 
the gadfly, the daughter of Inachus, who inflames the heart 
of Jupiter with love, and who, through the hate of Juno, is 
now compelled to the toil of these lengthened wanderings? 

I0# — Whence hast thou learned to pronounce the name 
of my father ? O tell to me, an unhappy being, who thou art, 
thyself unhappy, that thus dost truly address me as wretch- 
ed, and hast named the heaven-sent pest which consumes 
my life, envenoming me with its maddening stings ! Ah ! 

1 There has been much discussion as to the shape in which we are to 
suppose that Io made her appearance on the stage. Brumoy, Schutz, 
and Heath, have ridiculed the idea of a cow supporting a character ; and 
have maintained, that, with the exception of horns, the unhappy daughter 
of Inachus preserved her natural form. Dacier is of a contrary opinion ; 
and we conceive that the text justifies it beyond a doubt. The miseries 
of which Io complains, are those which afflict the herd: and so Virgil has 
justly represented them, in the passage quoted above. If she had suffered 
no other change but in the addition of horns, why should she have spoken 
with such horror of the persecution of the gadfly ? It is certainly diffi- 
cult for us to imagine how she could have actually appeared as a cow, 
without exciting the ridicule, rather than the sympathy, of the spectator : 
but this play is altogether wild and fanciful ; and, being beyond common 
nature, is not to be judged by common rules. 



PROMETHEUS. 25 

ah 1 hither have I bounding come, being goaded to speed 
by the pangs of famine, and forced to submit to the malig- 
nant designs of Juno. Among the victims of misfortune, 
are there any who, alas ! suffer such sorrows as mine ? 
But do you clearly shew to me what I am yet fated to 
endure, and what I shall escape. Disclose to me, if you 
possess the knowledge, some remedy for this disease. 
O speak; nor hide it from the forlorn and wandering 
virgin ! 

prom. — I will clearly tell you all which you seek to know ; 
not weaving a dark discourse, but in plain words ; as it is 
fitting that we should utter our sentiments to friends. 
You see Prometheus, the giver of fire to mortals. 

10. — Unhappy Prometheus, thou who didst appear for 
the general benefit of mankind ! in punishment for what 
offence dost thou suffer these pains ? 

prom.' — I have just ceased bewailing my sufferings. 

io. — Will you not, then, vouchsafe this boon to me ? 

prom. — Let me know what you request ; for you shall 
learn every thing from me. 

io. — Tell me, who rivetted you to this cleft rock ? 

prom. — The counsel, indeed, was Jove's ; but the work, 
Vulcan's. 

io. — And for what sin do you atone by this punishment ? 

prom. — I have already declared to you enough. 

io. — Still, tell me, besides, the end of my wanderings, 
and what period shall arrive to my unhappy doom ? 

prom. — It were better for you not to learn, than to learn 
what you seek. 

io. — Do not, however, conceal from me that which I 
am about to suffer. 

prom. — Nay, do not suppose that I grudge to bestow 
what you ask. 

io. — Why, then, should you delay to declare the whole ? 

prom. — I feel no reluctance, except in my fear to pain 
your mind. 

io. — Do not any longer be solicitous on my account, 
since your compliance would be agreeable to me. 



26 vESCHYLUS. 

prom. — If such is your wish, it becomes me to speak. 
Then hear 

chorus. — Not yet, I pray; but grant to me, also, a 
share in the gratification. Let us first inquire of her 
disease, from this virgin ; herself relating her deadly cala- 
mities : and then let the rest of her sufferings be disclosed 
by you. 

prom. — It is your duty, Io, to bestow on them this fa- 
vour, both for other reasons, and especially because they 
are sisters of your father 1 . It is, besides, no vain waste of 
time to mourn and bewail misfortunes with those from 
whom, when they hear the tale, one is likely to win their 
tears. 

io. — I know not how I can refuse your request ; and you 
shall therefore hear from me, in plain words, all that you 
seek to learn. And yet I am ashamed to tell of the storm 
of heavens wrath, and of the sad change of my form, from 
whence they visited their unhappy victim : for visions of 
the night, ever visiting the chambers of my virgin youth, 
beguiled my heart with these seductive words : " O maid, 
highly favoured by heaven ! why dost thou so long a maid 
remain, when it is granted to thy hopes to gain the proudest 
of marriages ? for Jove hath been inflamed, from thy beauty, 
by the shaft of desire, and longs to enjoy with thee the 
sweets of love. Do not then, O virgin, despise the em- 
brace of Jove ; but seek, amid the fertile meads of Lerna, 
the pastures and folds of thy father, that the eye of Jove 
may rest from its desire."' 1 By such dreams was I cruelly 
haunted every night, until I took courage to tell my father 
of the visions that disturbed my repose : and he sent to 
Pytho and to Dodona 2 many a seer, to consult the Gods, 
that he might learn by what deeds or words he might be 
able to fulfil the pleasure of the Gods ; but his messengers 

(1) Inachus, the father of Io, was descended, like all the other rivers, from 
Oceanus and Tethys. 

(2) The Scholiast has detected an anachronism in this mention of the 
Oracles ; as even Dodona, the most ancient in Greece, was not consecrated 
till after the times of Deucalion. 



PROMETHEUS. 27 

returned to tell of oracles of dubious interpretation, ob- 
scure and mysteriously expressed : until, at length, there 
came a clear response to Inachus, enjoining and express- 
ing, without ambiguity, that he should drive me away from 
my home and my country, to wander, abandoned to my 
fate, to the remotest regions of the earth ; and if he re- 
fused to comply, it was denounced, that the fiery bolt of 
Jove should descend, and annihilate all his race. Per- 
suaded by such oracles of Apollo, he unwilling banished 
and excluded me unwilling from his house : but the com- 
mand of Jove compelled him to do this deed against his 
will. My form and my mind immediately underwent a 
change ; the heifers horns, as ye see, were given to me ; 
and, envenomed by the keen bite of the gadfly, I rushed 
with maddened speed to the fair waters of Cenchrea's 
stream, and to the fount of Lerna : but Argus, the earth- 
born shepherd, intemperate in his anger, followed my 
course, watching all my steps with his hundred eyes. An 
unexpected and sudden fate deprived him of life ; but I, 
stung by the gadfly, am still forced, by that scourge of 
heaven, to roam from land to land. You hear my past 
fortunes ; and if you can tell aught of my future suffer- 
ings, declare it, nor, through pity, soothe me with false 
words; for I account a fictitious tale an evil and a dis- 
grace. 

chorus. — Ah ! ah ! alas ! forbear ! Never, never could I 
have dreamed that such a marvellous tale should reach 
my ears ; nor that calamities, wrongs, and horrors, so dire 
to be seen and endured in their sharpest of pangs, should 
freeze my soul. Alas ! alas ! thou power of Fate ! I shud- 
der as I behold the condition of lo. 

prom. — You groan too soon, and yield yourself too easily 
to fear. Stay, till you have also heard the rest. 

chorus. — Speak, and inform me : it is a relief to the af- 
flicted to know clearly, before its time, the coming evil l . 

(1) This sentiment is both untrue to nature, and inconsistent with the 
more philosophical view which the poet had already taken of the same sub- 
ject in a previous part of the drama. Vid. 255 — 260. 



28 AESCHYLUS. 

prom. — Your former request, at least, you obtained from 
me without difficulty : for you first desired to learn from 
this maid the tale of her own sufferings. Hear now those 
which are yet in store for her, and what calamities it is 
fated that she shall endure from the wrath of Juno : and 
do you, O daughter of Inachus, lay up my words in your 
mind, that you may clearly discover where your wander- 
ings are to end. First, when you leave this mountain, 
having turned 1 towards the rising of the sun, pursue your 
way over an uncultivated region ; and you shall come to 
the pastoral Scythians, who, armed with the far-darting 
bow, dwell in wattled abodes, that are constructed on 
high, above the wheels of their cars. Do not approach 
these tribes ; but, directing your steps to the rocky shore 
of the tempestuous sea, pass forth from the country. On 
the left dwell the Chalybians, skilled in working iron, a 
people whom you ought to avoid ; for they are rugged in 
their dispositions, and may not be approached by strangers 
with safety 2 . But you shall come to the river Hybristes 3 , 
betokening its violence by its name ; which you shall not 
attempt to pass, for its streams allow no easy ford, until you 
come to Caucasus itself, the monarch of mountains, where 
from the highest steeps this river pours forth its foaming 
tide. After you have crossed the summits of this heaven- 
kissing hill, you must proceed in a southward course ; by 
which you shall come to the unwedded tribes of Amazons, 
who, at some future period, shall found Themiscyra, beside 



(1) " Namque ad extremas partes Septentrionis pervenisse supponi- 
tur." — Stanley. 

(2) " Non ita sit metuenda tibi, sfevissima quanquam, gens Chaly- 
bum." — Valer. Flacc. Argonaut, iv. 610. 

(3) Some commentators have considered vfipio-Tr/v as an epithet applied 
to the Araxes, or some other of the great rivers which flow through the 
same region. Schiitz, after successfully combating this opinion, concludes 
by remarking : " Nomen huic flumini Hybristes fuerit necesse est, quan- 
quam hodie, quemnam fluvium eo nomine designaverit poeta, conjectura vix 
exputari potest, nedum cert6 definiri." 



PROMETHEUS. 29 

Thermodon \ where the rugged Salmydessian Promontory, 
the stepmother of ships, threatens, amid the sea, destruc- 
tion to mariners. These virgins shall, with willing zeal, 
conduct you on your way ; and you shall come to the Cim- 
meric Isthmus, beside the narrow entrance of the lake, 
which you must leave without fear, and cross the Straits 
of the Mseotis. The fame of this passage shall ever be 
celebrated among mortals; and it shall be called Bos- 
phorus 2 , in honour of your name. Thus, having left the 
plains of Europe, you shall come to the continent of Asia. — 
Does not, then, the tyrant of the Gods appear to you 3 to 
be equally violent in all things ? — for he, a God, having 
courted the embraces of this mortal, has afterwards com- 
pelled her to these wanderings. And you, O damsel, have 
met with a cruel suitor for your love ; for let the tale of 
your woes which you have now heard be regarded by you 
as scarcely their prelude. 

10. — Woe is me ! Alas ! alas ! 

from. — You again exclaim, and renew your groans ? 
What will you do when you hear the evils that yet remain 
for you ? 

chorus. — Can it be that you have other calamities to 
tell to this maid ? 

prom. — Yes ; a stormy sea of darkest troubles 4 . 

10. — What advantage, then, is it for me to live? and 
why do I not quickly fling myself from this rugged rock, 
so that, falling headlong to the plain, I may obtain a 
release from all my sorrows ? for it is better once to die, 
than to endure misfortunes through all my days. 

prom.— You would certainly bear but ill my sufferings, 
to whom it is not granted by the Fates to die 5 : for this 

(1) "Quales Threicise cum ad flumina Thermodontis 

Pulsant, et pictis bellantur Amazones armis." Virg. JEn. XL 659 . 

(2) Literally, Oxford. 

(3) Addressing the Chorus. 

(4) " JEschylus item Britannus dixit, A sea of troubles. Hamlet, Act 
III. 1."— Butler. 

(5) " Sic Caucasea sub rupe Prometheus, 

Testatur Saturnigenam, nee nomine cessat 

Incusare Jovem, data quod sit vita perennis." Anson. Idyl. xv. 21 



30 .ESCHYLUS. 

would set me free from misery : but now there is not any 
end of these calamities appointed to me, before that Jove 
shall be forced to relinquish his throne. 

10. — Shall it ever be, that Jove shall lose his dominion 
by force ? 

prom. — You would be rejoiced, I doubt not, to see this 
event. 

10. — How should I not rejoice, since I endure these 
hardships from Jove ? 

prom. — You may be assured, then, that this doom will 
befall him. 

io. — By whom shall he be despoiled of his regal sceptre ? 

prom. — By himself, through his own infatuated counsels. 

io. — In what manner ? Explain, if it be no harm. 

prom. — He shall contract such a marriage as shall cause 
him after-grief. 

to. — With divinity, or with mortal ? tell, if it may be told. 

prom. — Why do you inquire the nature of the marriage ? 
for it is not permitted me to disclose it. 

io — Is it by his wife that he shall be removed from his 
throne ? 

prom. — Yes, by a wife who shall give birth to a son 
more potent than his sire. 

io. — Has he no means of escaping from this fate ? 

prom. — None, in truth, until at least I am released from 
these bonds. 

io. — But who is he that shall release you, against the 
will of Jove ? 

prom. — It is fated that it shall be one of your own de- 
scendants. 

io. — How say you ? Shall a son of mine deliver you 
from your evils ? 

prom. — Yes, he who is born the third after ten other 
generations l . 

io. — This oracle is, as yet, dark of interpretation. 



(1) Epaphus, Libya, Belus, Danaus, Hypermnostra, Abas, Prcrtus, 
Acrisius, Danae, Perseus, Electryon, Alcmena ; and lastly Hercules, the 
deliverer to whom Prometheus alludes. 



PROMETHEUS. 31 

prom. — Neither examine it farther, nor seek to learn the 
whole tale of your own sufferings. 

io. — Do not, after offering me a favour, then deny it to 
my wishes. 

prom. — I will concede to you one of two narrations. 

io.- — Of what description ? First let me know them, and 
allow me a choice. 

prom. — I allow it: for choose whether I shall clearly 
declare your remaining toils, or tell you of him who is to 
set me free. 

chorus. — Of these favours, do not be unwilling to grant 
the one to her, and the other to me ; nor slight my request. 
To her, make known her future wanderings ; but to me, the 
person who shall set you free ; for this I am anxious to hear. 

prom. — Since you desire it, I will not refuse to declare 
all that you seek to know. — To you, Io, I will first de- 
scribe the mazy course of your wandering ; and do you en- 
grave my words on the retentive tablets of your memory. 
When you shall have advanced from the strait that se- 
parates the two continents, towards the path of the sun in 
the burning east * * * * * * you shall cross the 
resounding sea, until you arrive at the Gorgonian plains of 
Cisthene, where dwell the daughters of Phorcys, three 
ancient swan-like maids 1 , possessing only one eye and one 
tooth, whom neither the sun beholds with his beams, nor 
ever the moon in her nightly course. Near them dwell 
the three winged sisters, the abhorred Gorgons 2 with their 
hair of snakes, whom no mortal shall look on and live. I 
therefore warn you, by this caution, of your danger. But 
now listen to the account of other beings who are horrible 
to view; for you have also to avoid the Gryphons 3 , the 

(1) These singular beings, by name Ento, Pemphredo, and Dino, were 
born with all the marks of old age. Stanley observes: " Hinc forsan 
KVKvofxop^ot dictse, quia canse."' 

(2) Euryale, Stheno, and Medusa. 

(3) "In Asiatica Scythia terrse sunt locupletes, inhabitabiles tarn en : 
nam cum auro et gemmis affluant, Grypes tenent universa, alites ferocis- 
simse et ultra omnem rabiem srevientes, quarum immanitate obsistente ad 

venas 



32 ^SCHYLUS. 

dumb and ravenous hounds of Jove, and the equestrian 
bands of the one-eyed Arimaspians \ who dwell around 
the streams of Plutus and the fount that flows with gold. 
These approach not : but you shall come, in a far-distant 
land, to a swarthy race, who dwell near the sources of the 
dawn, beside the ^Ethiopian river: along this rivers 
banks pursue your course, until you come to the cataract, 
where, from the Bybline mountains, the Nile pours his 
sacred and salubrious 2 tide : his stream will conduct you 
to the triangular Nilotic land ; where, Io, it is fated for you 
and your children to found a distant colony. If any of 
these words are dark and unintelligible to you, renew your 
inquiries, and learn the whole distinctly ; for I have more 
leisure than I wish. 

chorus. — If you have any of her sad and many wan- 
derings remaining or omitted to tell her, speak; but if 
you have told her of all, now grant to us the favour which 
we asked, and which haply you remember. 

prom. — She has already been informed of the comple- 
tion of all her wanderings : and that she may know that 
she has not heard my predictions without authority, I will 
declare the labours she endured before she came hither, 
and thus offer a corroboration of my words. The main 
burden of the narrative I will indeed omit, and advance 
to the very close of your wanderings ; for when you came 
to the plains of Molossus, and traversed the lofty steeps of 

venas divites accessus difficilis ac rams est ; quippe visos discerpunt, veluti 
geniti ad plectendum avaritire temeritatem." — SoUn.c. 15. 
" As when a gryphon through the wilderness 
Pursues the Arimaspian, who by stealth 
Had from his wakeful custody purloin'd 
The guarded gold ; so eagerly the fiend, 
O'er bog, or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare, 
With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way." 

Milton. P. L. II. 943. 

(1) See Herodot. IV. 27. 

(2) " Hue pertinet Pescennii dictum ad milites, NUum habctis, et di- 
num qucsritis ? Plura de dulcedine aqua; Nilotic^ Spartiamis in rescennic* 
Nigro." — Stanley. 



PROMETHEUS. 33 

Dodona, where are the oracle and shrine of Thesprotian 
Jove, and that incredible prodigy the vocal oaks, you 
were hailed by them clearly, and without dubious mean- 
ing, as the illustrious spouse of Jove, who was to be ; a 
title, of which the remembrance even now delights your 
soul. Being driven thence by the gadfly, along the paths 
by the sea, you rushed to the mighty gulf of Rhea ; from 
which you now pursue the stormy course of your return. 
But in future time, be well assured, that bay of the ocean 
shall be called the Ionian ; as a memorial, to all mortals, of 
the way through which you passed. Let these be the 
proofs to you of my intelligence, that its vision penetrates 
farther than that which is revealed to the eye. But I 
will tell the rest to you and her as common information* 
returning to the same tract of my former narrative. — In 
the remotest regions of the world stands the city Ca- 
nopus, beside the very mouth and alluvial formations of 
the Nile, where Jupiter shall again restore you to your 
senses, by only touching and stroking you with his sooth- 
ing hand. And, with name derived from the mode in 
which he was engendered by Jupiter, you shall bring forth 
the dark Epaphus, who shall enjoy the fruits of all the 
shores that are washed by the broad waters of the Nile. 
But the fifty virgins ', who form the fifth generation from 
him, shall unwillingly return to Argos, seeking to escape 
the kindred marriage of their cousins 2 ; who, hurrying in 
the flutter of passion, like hawks following closely on the 
doves 3 , shall come to seek a marriage eluding their pur- 
suit, and court embraces of which the Gods shall deny to 
them the enjoyment. But the Pelasgic land shall receive 
the bodies of the lovers, overpowered by a deed of female 
daring that watched for the opportunity of the midnight 

( 1 ) The daughters of Danaus. 

(2) The sons of iEgyptus. 

(3) '* Sic ego currebam, sic me ferus ille premebat ; 

Ut fugere accipitrem penna trepidante columbrc, 
Ut solet accipiter pavidas urgere columbas." 

Ovid. Met. V.604. 



34 ^SCHYLUS. 

slaughter: for each bride shall deprive her husband of 
life, and dye in his blood the double edge of the whetted 
sword. O that Venus would visit with such rites my ene- 
mies 1 ! But desire shall soften one 2 of the virgins, so as 
not to slay the partner of her bed : but she shall feel her 
purpose blunted ; and of two choices, she shall prefer to 
be called faint of heart, rather than bloody of hand. She 
shall give birth, in Argos, to a line of kings 3 . There were 
need of many words to unfold clearly their history ; but 
from this seed, however, shall spring a dauntless warrior, 
renowned for the bow, who shall release me from these 
toils. Such was the prediction which my ancient mother, 
Titanian Themis, delivered to me: but how and where, 
requires a long tale to describe ; and you by learning it 
would gain nothing. 

10. — Alas ! alas ! The agony of pain, and madness of the 
phrensied mind, again inflame me ; and the sting of the 
gadfly envenoms me with its fiery poison. My heart, in 
its terror, beats violently against my bosom, and my eyes 
roll wildly around ; and I am driven out of my course by the 
furious gust of phrensy, without the power of controlling 
my tongue ; for its turbid words dash at random against 
the waves of hateful calamity 4 . 

chorus. — -Wise in truth, wise in truth was he who first 
supported this maxim in opinion, and promulgated it in 

( 1 ) " Passim habes apud antiquos ejusmodi plurima, quee nulla literarum 
cultura, nulla prsecepta philosophise, donee lux Christian© religionis efful- 
sisset, humanissimas gentes dedocere potuerunt." — Butler. 

(2) Hypermnestra, who spared her husband Lynceus, 

(3) Her immediate descendant was Abas, who, after the expulsion of 
Danaus, succeeded to the throne. 

(4) " Id ex hisce non apparet, et ridiculus est poeta, ea proferens qurc 
contrarium probant aperte. Debuisset lingua) et mentis confusionem verbis 
exprimere." Pauw. A more absurd criticism cannot well be imagined. The 
words of Io express most admirably the disordered state of her mind, be- 
coming gradually more wild and incoherent, till at length they end in abso- 
lute raving. Butler only condemns the arrogance of his brother commentator : 
" Hypercriticum hie certe superat Pauwius, et solitum sibi supercilium 
plusquam Zoili rabie contrahit." 



PROMETHEUS. 35 

words ; — that to wed in an equal alliance is by far the best 1 ; 
and that it is vain for the lowly of degree to be enamoured 
of those who revel in the luxury of wealth, or of those who 
pride themselves in the grandeur of their birth. Never 
never, O ye Fates, may ye behold me as the partner of the 
bed of Jove ! nor may I be laid by the side of any bride- 
groom of the race of heaven ! for I tremble as I behold 
the virgin Io, in consequence of her not having loved a 
mortal, cruelly tortured by the toilsome wanderings in- 
flicted by Juno. But I feel not fear, since my equal mar- 
riage gives me no cause of alarm : only may not the love 
of mightier Gods regard me with the glance that will not 
be denied ! This war at least baffles all resistance, and 
forces its way through every difficulty; nor do I know 
what would become of me, for I see not how I could avoid 
the purpose of Jove. 

prom. — Nevertheless, Jove, although his thoughts be 
stubborn, shall yet be humbled ; for he prepares to con- 
tract such a marriage as will utterly banish him from his 
kingdom and throne ; and then shall be fully consummated 
the curse of his father Saturn, which he imprecated when, 
he was driven from his ancient throne. None of the Gods 
except me, can clearly disclose to him the method of 
escaping from these calamities ; but I know both the me- 
thod and the means. Let him sit, then, as if secure, 
putting his trust in the thunders of the sky, and brandish- 
ing in his hand his fire-breathing bolt ; for these weapons 
shall not avail, to save him from falling degraded into 
intolerable ruin ; so dread is the adversary 2 that he now 
prepares against himself, the prodigy of resistless might, 
who shall discover a flame that obscures his lightning, and 
the strength of a sound that deafens his thunders, and who 
by force shall shiver the spear of Neptune, the trident of 
the sea, the pest that shakes the earth. Then shall Jove, 

(1) "Si qua voles apte nubere, nube pari." Ovid. Ep. Her. IX. 32. 

(2) " Non hie Hercules denotatur, ut putabat Brumoeus, nunquam enim 
ille Jovem regno exturbavit, sed filius nunquam revera natus, qui vero nasci 
debebat, si nuptias cum Thetide consummasset Jupiter." — Heath. 

d2 



36 jESCHYLUS. 

when lie comes suddenly on this calamity, be taught how- 
great is the difference between the tyrant and the slave. 

chorus. — You indeed imprecate against Jove what you 
wish to happen. 

prom. — I speak of what shall happen, as well as what 
I wish, 

chorus. — Are we to expect that some one shall obtain 
power over Jupiter ? 

prom. — Yes ; and that he shall have to bow to sufferings 
more intolerable than mine. 

chorus. — How do you not fear giving vent to such 
words ? 

prom. — What should I fear, to whom it is not fated to 
die? 

chorus. — But he may inflict on you a suffering still 
more grievous than the present. 

prom. — Let him inflict it then; for the worst is to be 
expected by me. 

chorus. — They who venerate Adrastea 1 are wise. 

prom. — Venerate, worship, flatter him whoever happens 
to be in power; but I care for Jove less than nothing. 
Let him act, let him rule for this brief time, as he pleases ; 
for his empire of heaven soon draws to a close. But I re- 
frain from saying more ; for I see at hand the Messenger 
of Jove, the servant of the new tyrant. Without doubt he 
has come to tell some new resolve. 

mercury. 

My message is to you, the inventor of fraud — to you, so 
violent in your rage, who sinned against the Gods in com- 
municating their honours to mortals, and who stole from 
heaven the fire. The Father commands you to declare 
what are the nuptials you boast of, by which he shall be 
expelled from the sovereignty ; and to tell your meaning in 
no enigmatical way, but clearly to explain every circum- 
stance. And do not, Prometheus, impose on me the 

(1) Or, Nemesis. — For the derivation of the name, and all the learning 
respecting lliis Goddess, sec the elaborate note of Stanley. 



PROMETHEUS. 37 

necessity of returning on this mission ; for you see that 
Jove is incensed by such stubbornness. 

prom. — Your speech is arrogant, and full of pride, 
considering that it comes from a lackey of the Gods. New 
in office, ye enjoy your upstart power, and think that ye 
dwell in towers secured against disaster. Have I not seen 
two Rulers ! driven by force from these very towers ? and, as 
a third, I shall behold him who now bears the sway most 
quickly and most disgracefully resign it. Do I seem to 
you in aught to fear or dread the new Gods ? I am far and 
altogether removed from such a thought. — But do you 
hasten back, by the road by which you came ; for you shall 
learn nothing of what you ask me. 

merc. — It was by a similar obstinacy that you formerly 
brought yourself into these misfortunes. 

prom. — Be assured that I would not exchange the hard- 
ships of my lot for your slavery 2 : for I deem it better to 
be in bondage to this rock, than to have been born the 
faithful messenger of father Jove 3 . It is proper thus to 
taunt with insult the insolent. 

merc. — You seem to delight in your present circum- 
stances. 

prom. — Delight ! In such delightful state may I behold 
my enemies 4 ! and I count you for one in the number, 

(1) Coelus and Saturn. 

(2) " Grseca libertas mente (Prometheo) odium servitutis altissimum 
insidere vult. In jEschylo semper eum videbis, qui, Marathone pugnasse, 
ita sibi pree reliquis operibus gloriee duxit, ut in sepulchri inscriptione hujus 
unius diei mentionem fieri voluisse, Pausanias in Atticis memorise prodit.' ' 

Muller. 

(3) " Here we may reign secure : and in my choice, 

To reign is worth ambition, though in hell : 
Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven." 

Milton, P. L. I. 260. 
" Thou art a King, a sovereign over men ; 
I am a Druid, servant of the Gods — 
Such service is above sovereignty." Mason's Caraetacus. 

(4) " Utinam male qui mihi volunt, sic rideant." 

, Pfautus, Asin. v. 1 , 



38 ^SCHYLUS. 

merc. — For do you also lay to my charge some share in 
your misfortunes ? 

prom. — In good truth, I hate all the Gods, as many as, 
having partaken of my benefits, persecute me with in- 
justice. 

merc — I perceive, from what I hear, that you are dis- 
tempered with no slight phrensy. 

prom. — May I feel distemper ! if such it be, to hate my 
enemies. 

merc — You would be intolerable if you were in pro- 
sperity. 

prom. — Alas ! 

merc. — Jupiter does not know this word. 

prom. — But time, as it advances, teaches all things. 

merc. — And yet you, for instance, have not yet learned 
to be wise. 

prom. — If I had, I should not have addressed you, who 
are a slave. 

merc — You seem as if you would tell nought of what 
the Father seeks to know. 

prom. — And certainly, as being indebted to him, I ought 
to return a favour. 

merc — You have taunted me, forsooth, as if I were a 
boy. 

prom. — For are you not a boy, and even more foolish 
than a boy, if you think that you shall learn any thing from 
me ? There is no torture nor device by which Jove shall 
prevail upon me to declare these secrets, before the bonds 
that afflict me shall have been loosed. Let, therefore, his 
blazing lightnings be hurled; and let him confound and 
disturb the universe with white-w r inged snow, and with 
thunders that shake the earth ; for none of these terrors 
shall bend my purpose, so as to make me declare by whom 
it is decreed that he shall be expelled from his throne l . 

(1) " It is not necessary to send the ladies to Pindar for their informa- 
tion in this celestial anecdote ; as our courtly Lansdowne, in his Masque 
of Peleus and Thetis, is ready to discover the secret. Jupiter beheld the 
charma of Thetis, daughter of Oceanus, with the eye of a lover, and 

intended 



PROMETHEUS. 39 

merc. — See, now, if such counsels appear to be of ad- 
vantage to you. 

prom. — They have long since been considered, and ma- 
turely determined. 

merc. — Submit, O foolish being ! submit at length to 
judge rightly with regard to your present misfortunes. 

prom. — You trouble me with your persuasions, as vainly 
as the wave assails the rock. Never let it enter your imagi- 
nation, that I, fearing the intentions of Jove, shall become 
of dastard spirit, and with hands uplifted, like a woman, 
beseech the object of my bitter hate to set me free from 
these bonds : I am far from such a thought. 

merc — I seem, after all that I have said, to have spoken 
in vain ; for you are in no degree moved or softened, as to 
your heart, by entreaty ; but champing the bit like an un- 
manageable colt, you strain and contend against the rein. 
And yet it is on a weak argument that you display this 
violence ; for obstinacy, in the case of him who deliberates 
unwisely, is by itself of less avail than nothing. But con- 
sider, if you be not persuaded by my words, what a storm 
and violent surge of evils shall inevitably assail you ; for 
first, indeed, the Father of the Gods shall rend this rugged 
cliff with the thunder and the flame of the lightning, and 
shall bury your body, and the rock shall bear you away in 
its embrace. After a long lapse of time, you shall again 
return to the light; but the winged hound of Jove, the 
blood-thirsty eagle, shall ravenously mangle all your la- 
cerated body, coming an unbidden guest to prolong the 
banquet through the whole day, and shall gorge his 

intended to advance her, as his consort, to the imperial throne of heaven. 
Now it was in the Fates, that this lady should have a son, who was to 
be greater than his father. Prometheus alone, by his divine foresight, 
could open the danger to Jupiter ; but this he firmly refused to do, till 
he should be released from the rock. After that Hercules, by the per- 
mission of Jupiter, had killed the tormenting eagle, and unbound his chains, 
he disclosed the decree of the Fates: Thetis was given in marriage to 
Peleus; and the prophecy was accomplished in the famous Achilles." — 

Potter 



40 iESOHYLUS. 

hunger by gnawing your black liver. Of this agony you 
need not expect a close, till some one of the Gods shall 
appear as a successor to your toils, and be willing to 
descend to the gloomy Hades and to the dark abysses of 
Tartarus 1 . Therefore deliberate; since these threats are 
not feigned, but spoken in earnest ; for the mouth of Jove 
knows not to utter what is false, but will bring to comple- 
tion its every word. But do you look around you, and 
consider ; nor ever account obstinacy better than prudent 
counsel. 

chorus. — To us, indeed, Mercury appears to speak with 
reason ; for he advises you to lay aside your obstinacy, 
and to search after wise counsel. Be thus persuaded ; for 
it is disgraceful for the wise to err. 

prom. — He has urged this message on me who foreknew 
it ; but it is nothing dishonourable for an enemy to suffer 
evils from his enemies. Let, therefore, the wreaths of the 
forked lightning be hurled against me ; and let the air be 
disturbed by the thunder, and by the convulsion of wild 
winds ; and let the fury of their blast shake ] by the very 
roots the earth from its foundations, and in the tempests 
of tumultuous waves confound the billows of the sea, and 



( 1 ) " Puto poetam hie intelligere liberationem coelestem generis humani : 
de qua haud dubie cognorat qusedam ex prophetiis et sapientia Hebraorum, 
sicut turn etiam in vaticiniis Sibyllinis multa de hoc mysterio celebra- 

bantur." Garbit. " Hoc vult Mercurius, nullus plane tibi erit finis 

jerumnarum. Conditionem enim liberationis addit, qua? nullo pacto erat 
expectanda. Similis figura dictionis in illo Terentiano, Andr. I. 2 : 

Verberibus csesum te in pistrinum, Dave, dedam usque ad necem ; 

Hac lege atque omine, ut, si te inde exemerim, ego pro te molam." 

SCIR T7. 

Butler supposes that the allusion is to Hercules: which is still more un- 
satisfactory than the former explanations; for the secret of his deliverance, 
which Prometheus so carefully guarded, was of course unknown to Mer- 
cury. The Scholiast explains the passage, by saying, that whoever at- 
tempted to relieve Prometheus, should himself be sent to the shades of 
Orcus, and the dark abyss of Tartarus. It is quite clear, from the text, 
that this is not its natural interpretation ; but it is equally difficult to 
suggest any other that will remove the obscurity. 



PROMETHEUS. 41 

the paths of the stars through heaven ; and headlong to 
the gloomy Tartarus let him cast my body, in the resist- 
less eddies of necessity ! for it is still beyond his power to 
deprive me of life. 

merc. — Such counsels and words you may hear from the 
insane ; for in what respect does he fall short of delirium, 
if even in misfortune he does not moderate his rage ? But 
do you at least, who sympathize in his sufferings, depart 
hence with speed to some other place, lest the hoarse bel- 
lowing of the thunder distract your minds. 

chorus. — Speak, and advise something else, to which 
you may be able to persuade me ; for you have here in- 
terweaved a counsel which is by no means to be endured. 
How can you exhort me to practise what is base ? Along 
with this sufferer, I am willing to meet his fate : for I have 
learned to hate those who are untrue to their friends, and 
there is no pest which I abhor more than faithlessness. 

merc — But do you bear in mind my warnings ; and do 
not, when overtaken by calamity, accuse fortune, nor ever 
say that Jove has precipitated you into unforeseen disas- 
ter : no truly, but you have precipitated yourselves ; for 
knowing your fate, and not on a sudden nor in secret, 
you are about to be entangled, through your folly, in the 
inextricable toils of calamity. 

prom. — And truly in deed, and no longer in word, the 
earth hath been shaken ; and the deep-resounding roar of 
the thunder bellows past us, and the volleyed flames of 
lightning break from the clouds, and the whirlwinds raise 
the eddies of dust, and the blasts of all the winds are in 
wild commotion, arraying against each other their conflict- 
ing storms, and the sky hath been confounded with the 
sea. Such a power of Jove awakening fear is manifestly 
directed against me. O dread divinity of my mother 
Earth I O firmament of heaven, that diffusest thy com- 
mon light to all ! ye behold the wrongs I suffer ! 



THE 

SEVEN CHIEFS AGAINST THEBES. 



PERSONS OF THE DRAMA, 



ETEOCLES. 

MESSENGER. 

CHORUS OF VIRGINS. 

ISMENE. 

ANTIGONE. 

HERALD. 



THE 



SEVEN CHIEFS AGAINST THEBES. 



ETEOCLES. 

x e citizens of Cadmus, it becomes him to deliver season- 
able counsels, whoever is the guardian of affairs in the 
vessel of the state, directing aright its helm without lull- 
ing his eyelids to repose. For if our fortunes prosper, all 
is ascribed to the God ; but if, on the other hand — which 
may Heaven forbid ! — calamity should befall us, the name 
of Eteocles would alone be loudly resounded through the 
city by the people, in tumultuous reproaches and lamenta- 
tions : of which, may Jupiter, in accordance with his name, 
prove the averter from the city of the Cadmseans ! But it 
behoves you now, both him who hath not yet attained the 
flower of youth, and him who through age hath passed his 
prime, buoying up the full vigour of the body — and each 
in the manner that befits the season of his life — to assist 
his country, and the altars of his country's Gods, so that 
their honours may never be defaced, and his children, and 
the land that gave him birth and reared him with fondest 
affection. For your country, enduring all the labour of 
your nurture, hath brought you up, since you first planted 
your infant steps on her friendly soil, to dwell within her 
borders in valour and faith, that ye might be ready to her 
aid in emergency like this. And now, indeed, up to this 
period, our fortunes go well ; for to us already, so long in- 
vested within these walls, the war for the most part suc- 
ceeds favourably, by the blessing of the Gods. But now, 



46 AESCHYLUS. 

as the prophet declares, the feeder of birds 1 , passing in 
array before his ears and mind 2 their auguries, without 
the aid of fire, by the skill of his unerring art — he that is 
gifted with knowledge of such oracles declares, that a 
great attack of the Grecians has been proclaimed for this 
night, and that they are planning stratagems against the 
city. But hasten all to the battlements and gates of the 
towers; rush in your panoplies; man the breast-work; 
and take your station on the stories of the turrets ; and, 
firmly abiding at the outlets of the gates, be of good cou- 
rage, nor dread too much the crowd of invaders : the God 
will grant the event to be prosperous. But I have also 
sent scouts and spies to watch their army, who, I trust, 
will not linger on their way; and having heard their 
report, I shall not be surprised by any stratagem. 

MESSENGER. 

Most gallant Eteocles, king of the Cadmaeans, I come 
from the army, bringing clear intelligence of their pro- 
ceedings ; and I myself am an eye-witness of what I relate : 
for seven chiefs, impetuous leaders of the host, having slain 
a bull above a shield of sable rim, and dipping their hands 
in the blood of the victim, swore by Mars and Bellona and 
blood-thirsting Terror, that either, working the downfall 
of our walls, they would sack by force the city of the 
Cadmaeans, or, dying, would mingle their blood with the 
dust of this land 3 . And they wreathed with their hands, 

(1) "In verbis oinvoov fiorrjp explicandis infelix est Schiitz, qui propterea 
sic vocari Tiresiam putat, quia aves cicures aluerit, ex quibus auspicia 
caperet, nee felicior Schwenk., qui ab avibus came sacrificiorum alendis 
hoc nomen eum traxisse opinatur. Recte vidit Wunderl. p. 1 93. eum 
avium dominwm vocari, quatenus ex iis vaticinandi facultatem habebat." — 

Wellauer. 

(2) Tiresias was punished by Minerva with blindness, because he had 
been so presumptuous as to gaze upon her naked charms. His mother 
Chariclo interceded in his behalf ; but the Goddess was unable to restore 
his sight ; and therefore gave him, as a compensation, the faculty of under- 
standing the voices of all birds. Divination by fire, and other ocular signs, 
were, of course, beyond the reach of his art. 

(3) This description has been quoted by Longinus, with warm praises of 

its 



SEVEN CHIEFS AGAINST THEBES. 47 

around the chariot of Adrastus \ memorials of themselves 
to their parents at home, shedding the tear : but no sign 
of pity appeared in their looks ; for their minds, enkindled 
by courage, breathed only of iron purpose, like lions from 
whose eyes glares the spirit of battle. And the informa- 
tion of these circumstances is not protracted by delay; for 
I left them casting lots, how each, as it fell to his fortune, 
should lead onward his squadron to the gates. Therefore 
quickly station at the outlets of the gates the chosen and 
bravest warriors of our city ; for already the army of the 
Argives is advancing in full armour, and hastening amid 
clouds of dust, while the white foam from the snortings of 
their steeds sprinkles, with its gouts, the plain. But do 
you, like the prudent pilot of a ship, provide for the secu- 
rity of the city, before the blasts of Mars burst on it ; for 
the wave of the army now roars along the plain 2 : and 
embrace, in what you do, the quickest opportunity : and L 
for the future, will employ my eye in faithful watch by 
day 3 , so that, learning from my clear intelligence the 
motions of the army without the walls, you shall be secure 
from danger. 

eteocles. — O Jove ! and Earth ! and ye Gods who pos- 
sess our city ! and thou curse of our race, the potent fiend 
invoked by my father ! do not, I pray, destroy utterly from 
its foundations, in captive ruin, a city that utters the lan- 
guage of Greece, nor the hearths of our homes ! O never, 
beneath a yoke of slavery, bind a land of freedom and the 
city of Cadmus ; but prove our defence ! For I trust that 



its sublimity. There is an attempt in the Lysistrata to turn it into ridi- 
cule ; which only displays the ill-nature without the usual wit of the author. 

(1) It had been predicted by Amphiaraus, that, of the seven chiefs, 
Adrastus alone should survive the war. His chariot is therefore selected 
to bear home the last gifts of his fated companions. 

(2) " Nemo sane belli impetus et pericula descripsit fortius et melius 
quam hie bellator noster fortissimus, iEschylus; imaginibus verb utitur, 
quae ut plurimum admirationis et terroris incutiunt, quippe a ventorum 
marisque turbati impetu translatis. n — Burton. 

(3) " Quia antea noctu exploravit, v. 29."— Stanley. 



48 tESCHYLUS. 

I speak for our common interest ; since a city in prosperity 
pays honour to the Gods \ 

CHORUS. 

I mourn for these dangers, so fearful and mighty. The 
army, leaving its camp, is poured against us ; and hither- 
ward flow their vast troops of cavalry, in front of the array. 
The dust that appears in the air convinces me ; a silent 
messenger, but true and certain in its tidings. The sound 
of clanging hoofs on the plain approaches to startle our 
repose, even now more nearly is wafted through the air, 
and deepens in its din, like some resistless torrent that 
tears its mountain channel. Oh ! oh ! oh ! O Gods and 
Goddesses, avert the coming evil ! for the bands, that 
wave their white shields beyond the walls, now rush on 
with shouts in goodly array, directing their course to our 
towers. Who then, of Gods or Goddesses, will deliver us ? 
who then stand to our defence ? Before which statues of 
the Gods shall 1 fall ? O ye blessed Powers, seated on 
your glorious thrones, now is the moment to cling as sup- 
pliants to your images ! Why then, in this height of our 
misery, do we delay ? Hear, or hear ye not, the din of 
shields ? When, if not now, shall we betake ourselves to 
the suppliant offering of robes 2 and chaplets? I see the 
sound ! — that clash was of no single spear. What dost thou 
design, O Mars, ancient God of our country ? wilt thou 
betray this, thine own land ? O God of the golden helm, 
look down from heaven, look down on this city, which 
thou erst didst fix in thy fond affection ! O Gods of the 
country, whose temples are within these walls, behold, O 
all behold this band of virgins imploring you to escape 
captivity ! for the tide of warriors wiili waving crests 
chafes around the city, impelled before the blasts of Mars. 

(l) ' Ev 5* ctKoXovOe? fiekTUTrov rjdos rfj evrvxta, on <j>i\oQeot. ei<ri, kcii exov- 
aiv 7rpo<; to Qeio'v ttw? irio-revovreq Sia ra yiyvofxeva ayaBa cnro ttjs Tt»x»/?. — 

Arist. Rhet.ll. 19. 
(2) " Interea ad templum non ccqua) Palladia ibant 
Crinibus Iliades passis, poplumque ferebant 
Suppliciter tristes.'' Virg, Mn, I. -479. 



SEVEN CHIEFS AGAINST THEBES. 49 

But, O Father Jove, thou perfect God, with all thy 
power avert our subjection to the foe ! for the Argives 
are investing the city of Cadmus, and fear of their martial 
arms pervades me ; and the bits that are bound through 
the jaws of their horses sound dismally of slaughter ; and 
seven chiefs, the noblest of the host, stand at the seventh 
gate 1 , in spear-proof armour, each having obtained his 
station by lot. But do thou, O heavenly Power, whose 
joy is in the battle — Minerva, daughter of Jove, arise to 
defend our city ! And O Neptune, inventor of the steed, 
who rulest the ocean with thy trident, that smites its mon- 
sters, do thou grant us a release from our terrors ! And 
do thou, O Mars, alas ! alas ! protect the city that bears 
the name of Cadmus, and manifestly prove thy regard for 
it ! And do thou, O Venus, who first gavest birth to our 
race, avert these calamities ! for from thy blood we are 
sprung 2 . Giving voice to prayers that implore thy hea- 
venly aid, we now approach thee. And do thou, O Ly- 
caean Apollo, justify thy name 3 on the host of the enemy, 
moved by the cry of our groans ! And do thou, O Virgin 
daughter of Latona, beloved Diana, propitiously assume 
thy bow ! Oh ! oh ! oh ! oh ! I hear the din of chariots 
around the city. O awful Juno ! the boxes of the loaded 
axles resound; the air rages with the whizzing spears. 
What will our city suffer ? what will become of it ? and 
to what issue will the God conduct its fate ? Even now, 
O dear Apollo ! the shower of stones, hurled by the light- 
armed of the enemy, assails our battlements 4 . At the 

(1) Thomas Magister is followed by Stanley and Schiitz in translating 
efidofxaiq, septem, instead of septimus, which is its usual and literal meaning. 
The point seems clearly to be settled against them, in the excellent note of 
Valckenaer, quoted by Blomfield, p. 15. 

(2) Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, married Harmonia, the daughter of 
Mars and Venus : the Chorus, therefore, avail themselves of the plea of 
consanguinity, to invoke the aid of both their divine progenitors. 

(3) By proving a wolf to the enemy ; — a pun on the epithet " Lyccean" 
which cannot of course be translated. 

(4) " Quanquam Pauwius more suo acriter urget, hsec de lapidibus e 
muris in hostilem exercitum jactis intelligenda esse ; verum tamen est, 

E quod 



50 jESCHYLUS. 

gates is heard the clash of the brazen shields ; and there is 
the Sacred Band, commissioned by Jove, that brings war to 
its close. But do thou, O blessed Queen, amid the battle 
in defence of our city, rescue the seat of the seven gates ! 
O ye Divinities present to save, ye perfect Gods and God- 
desses who defend the towers of this land, do not, in the 
strife of the spear, betray the city to an army whose lan- 
guage is not ours 1 ! Listen to these virgins ! listen, in 
justice, to the prayers they offer with uplifted hands i O 
friendly Pow ers, do ye, walking around our walls as their 
guardians, prove how well ye love this city ; and shew your 
regard for the religious observances of the people ; and, 
regarding them, protect them with your favour ; and forget 
not, I pray, the willing sacrifice offered in the public rites 
of the city. 

eteocles. — I ask of you, ye intolerable creatures, if it 
be best and most likely to save the city, or inspire confi- 
dence in our beleaguered troops, thus falling down before 
the images of the Gods who guard our city, to shriek and 
clamour, ye objects of hatred to the wise 2 ? Neither in 

quod Heathius vidit, significari potius imbrem lapideum ab hostibus in 
summa propugnacula missum. Primum enim utitur poeta verbo epxerai, 
uon cKpierat, aut simili. Deinde exterritas mulieres, prse metu vix sui com- 
potes, prout meticulosorum mos est, ad ea solum attendere consentaneum 
est, quae terrorem augere possint, non ad ea quse spem hostium impetum 
propulsandi ostendant." — Schutz. 

(2) Commentators have been puzzled to reconcile this expression with 
the appeal made by Eteocles, v. 72, in behalf of a city 'EWaBos (pdoyyov 
Xeovcrav. Pauw supposes erepocpoovco only to allude to the dissension of 
opinion, or difference of voices between the contending parties; while 
Schutz and Heath consider the expression warranted by the dissimilarity 
of the Argive and Boeotian dialect. The interpretation of Butler is the most 
simple, as well as satisfactory: "At vero erepo^wvw tantum paulb gravius 
dictum ad miserationem pro alienigena vel hostili." 

(2) "Potest vel ad virgines referri, ut v. 166. Ope/u/jar ovk avao-xera 
vel ad ipsum sermon em et ejulatus virginum, sicut Scholiastes accepit, et 
Grotius, qui hunc versum sententiam fecit. Recti us fortassc ad mulieres ; 
ut sit sententia, vos Opefifiar ovk avao~x eT <*i vos inquam, aux^ponov fjuotjuara 
interrogo." Stanley. — "Fateor tarn en mihi etiamnum perplacere eorum 
sententiam, qui ad aveiv, ActKafctv, lias voces referendas .indicant," Blom- 
field. The interpretation of Stanley is clearly to be preferred. 



SEVEN CHIEFS AGAINST THEBES. 51 

adversity nor in beloved prosperity may I be fated to 
dwell with womankind : for in power, their arrogance is 
not to be endured ; and in fear, they are a still greater 
evil to a house or city. And now, hurrying in these dis- 
orderly flights, ye spread, by your clamours, a heartless 
cowardice among the citizens, and assist in the greatest 
degree the cause of the enemy ; while we within are ruined 
by ourselves. Such are the benefits you may reap from 
dwelling along with women. But if either man or woman, 
or other between these names 1 , shall disobey my com- 
mands, the sentence of death shall be resolved against 
them, and they shall not escape the destruction of public 
stoning. For the works of war are a care to men : let not 
a woman take counsel for them 2 : but keeping within, she 
does not create mischief. Have you heard, or not heard ? 
or do I speak to the deaf? 

chorus. — O dear son of QEdipus, I trembled as I heard 
the din of the sounding chariots, when the naves of the 
circling wheels loudly rattled ; and as I heard the guiding 
bits, that are forged in the fire, ceaselessly champed in the 
mouths of the horses ! 

eteocles. — What then? Does the mariner attain the 
means of safety by flying from the rudder to the prow 3 , 
when his bark is labouring amid the billows of the ocean ? 

chorus. — No; but I came with haste to the ancient 
images of the Gods, placing my trust in their divinity, 
when arose the sound of the sleet of death descending at 
the gates. Then, in truth, was I impelled by fear to sup- 
plicate the blessed Gods, that they would stretch forth 
their power to save our city. 

(1) "Locum verto, Vir et foemina, et quicquid inter hcec nomina, omitto; 
i.e. pueri, virgines, &c." — Blomfield. 

(2) 'AAA.' ek oikov lov<ra ra a-avTrj<; epya Ko/mi^e, 
c 1(ttov t, r{KaKa.rrjv re, nat. a[x<f>nro\oi<ri Ke\eve 
3/ Ep70v eTToixevQcu' iroKe/xos S' avSpecrcri fxekrj<rei 

Uaaiv, e/uot Se [JLaXicrra, rot 'l\i<*> iyyeyaacriv. Horn. II. £. 490- 

(3) " Num, inquit, navita mari sseviente puppim relinquens, et ad 
deos tutelares in prora positos confugiens, salutem consequutus est?" 

Stanley. 
i<:2 



52 .ESCHYLUS. 

eteocles. — Pray that our towers continue proof against 
the hostile spears. 

chorus. — Is not this to be granted by the Gods ? 

eteocles. — Nay ; it is said, that the Gods of a conquered 
city forsake it 1 . 

chorus. — O never, during my life, may this assemblage 
of Gods forsake us ! and may I never behold the streets of 
this city scoured by the enemy, nor its people assailed by 
hostile flames ! 

eteocles. — Do not, invoking the Gods, follow counsels 
to my hurt ; for obedience is the mother of success, with 
power to save : so, at least, men say of it 2 . 

chorus. — It is : but to the Gods belongs a still higher 
might ; and often, in misfortunes, it raises up their helpless 
victim from the bitter sorrow whose clouds are suspended 
above his eyes. 

(1) " Narrat Scholiastes, quod Trojani, cum expugnaretur civitas, Deos 
viderint simulachra sua auferentes: quod et Sophoclem in Xoanephoris 
retulisse ait. Huic verb commento accinit Euripides, in Troad. v. 25. 
sub persona Neptuni : 

AetTTW to Kkeivov' Wiov (3a>fxovg t e/uovs, 

'Ftprjfxia <yap i?6\iv orav \<x{3q KaKrj, 

Notre? ra roov Oeoov, ovSe Ti/jiacrOac 6e\e?. 
Et Virgilius, jEn.U. 351: 

Excessere omnes adytis, arisque relictis, 

Dii, quibus imperium hoc steterat. 

Ad quem locum adi sis Interpretes, prsecipue Germanum Valentem 
Guellium. " — Stanley. 

In like manner, the Shekinah, or Divine Presence, was withdrawn from 
the ark of the first temple, before it was destroyed by the king of Baby- 
lon ; and at the fall of Jerusalem were heard the dismaying sounds, fxeO- 
HTTaneQa tcov evrevOev, " Expassse repente delubri fores, et audita major 
humana vox, Excedere Deos: simul ingens motus excedentium." Tacit. 
Hist. v. 13. In confirmation of this ancient superstition, Brunck has 
also quoted Livy, V. 1 5 : " Sic disciplina Etrusca traditum esse, ut quando 
aqua Albana abundasset, turn si earn Romanus rite emisisset, victoriam de 
Veientibus dari ; antequam id fiat, Deos mo?nia Veientium deserturos non 
esse." And we are informed by Macrobius, iii. 9. that the Romans always 
evoked the Gods of a besieged city. 

(2) " Habes meam sententiam. Sohutz. Potius, sic fere dicitur : q. d. 
provcrbialis est hccc sentcntia.'''' — Butler. 



SEVEN CHIEFS AGAINST THEBES. 53 

eteocles. — It is the part of men to offer sacrifices and 
rites to the Gods, amid hostile attempts ; and it is your 
duty, on the other hand, to be silent, and keep at home. 

chorus. — By the blessing of the Gods, we dwell in an 
unconquered city; and may its towers still be proof against 
the crowd of the enemy! What indignation can feel 
offended at such words ? 

eteocles. — I am not displeased because you honour the 
race of the Gods ; but, lest you make the citizens faint- 
hearted, remain quiet, nor give way to extravagant fears. 

chorus. — Hearing the sudden uproar, I came in startled 
terror to this citadel, an honoured abode. 

eteocles. — : Do not now, if ye hear of the dying or the 
wounded, be eager to receive them with lamentations ; for 
by such fears of mortals Mars is strengthened. 

chorus. — -Even now I hear the snortings of the steeds. 

eteocles. — Do not now, though you hear them, attend 
too clearly to the sound. 

chorus. — The city groans from its foundations, as the 
enemy encompasses it. 

eteocles. — Is it not enough, then, that I should consult 
about these dangers ? 

chorus. — I fear ! for the blows fall thicker at the gates. 

eteocles. — Will you not be silent? Utter no such 
words in the city. 

chorus. — O associate band of Gods, do not betray our 
towers ! 

eteocles. — Will you not, with a mischief, submit to 
these things in silence ? 

chorus. — Ye Gods who guard this city, grant that I may 
not know captivity ! 

eteocles. — You aid in making me and yourself and the 
city captive. 

chorus. — O, almighty Jove, direct thy bolt against, our 
enemies 1 

eteocles.— O Jove, what a race hast thou made that of 
women ! 



54 iESCHYLUS. 

chorus. — An unhappy race ! as are the men whose city 
is taken. 

eteocles. — Again, laying hold of the images, you renew 
your cries ! 

chorus. — For, in the sinking of my soul, fear hurries 
away my tongue. 

eteocles. — Will you grant to my request a slight boon ? 

chorus. — Tell me, as quickly as possible; and I shall 
soon know. 

eteocles. — Be silent, O wretched woman ! and do not 
excite fear in your friends. 

chorus. — I seal my lips ; and, with the rest, will submit 
to what is decreed. 

eteocles. — I prefer this to your former declaration : but 
further, do you, keeping apart from the images, offer up 
the better prayer, that the Gods may assist us ; and having 
heard my prayers, do you afterwards awake the hymn of 
sacred and propitious strain, the Grecian ritual of sacrifi- 
cial acclaim, inspiring confidence in your friends, and ba- 
nishing their dread of the enemy. And I here vow, if 
our fortunes prosper, and the city be preserved, that, 
staining with the blood of sheep the altars of the Gods and 
sacrificing to them bulls, I will dedicate in the sacred 
temples the garments of the enemy, the spoils won by the 
spear from the foe, as trophies to the Gods who guard the 
city of this land, both those who rule over our plains and 
those who survey the forum, and to the fountains of Dirce ; 
for those of Ismenus I forbear to name. Offer up such 
vows to the Gods, not indulging in groans nor in vain and 
frantic sobbings ; for you shall not in any degree the 
more escape what is fated. But I, going, will station at the 
seven outlets of the walls six champions, with myself the 
seventh, to resist the enemy in gallant manner, before that 
hasty messengers and thickening reports shall come, and 
inflame us in the moment of emergency. 

chorus. — Your words are a care to me ; and my heart 
sleeps not, in consequence of its fears : for anxious 



SEVEN CHIEFS AGAINST THEBES. 55 

thoughts, possessing my bosom, inflame my alarm, on ac- 
count of the bands that encompass our walls ; even as some 
all-trembling dove fears, on account of her brood, the 
serpent, evil inmate of her nest 1 : for some are advancing 
against the towers, with all their bands, and in full array — 
What will become of me ! — and others hurl the rugged 
stones against the citizens, who are assailed on every side. 
Join all your efforts, ye Gods whose lineage is from 
Jove, to rescue the city and the people of Cadmus ! To 
what plain of the earth that is better than this can ye trans- 
fer your abode, abandoning to our foes the fertile fields 
of this land, and the fount of Dirce, whose wave is fairest 
and most salubrious of all the streams that earth-encircling 
Neptune or the daughters of Tethys command to flow ? 
Therefore, O Gods of our city, inflicting on those without 
the towers the disasters of slaughtered men and arms 
abandoned in flight, vouchsafe the triumph to our people ; 
and, preserving the city, remain firmly in your glorious 
seats, in compliance with our piteous prayers ! for it 
were lamentable to abandon to destruction so ancient 2 a 
city, the captive prey of the spear, ingloriously overthrown 
in smouldering ashes by an Achaean leader commissioned 
by heaven ; and that our maids and matrons should be 
dragged away as slaves — alas ! alas ! alas ! — dragged by 
the hair like horses, their robes all rent around them. And 
the devastated city mourns aloud, all its booty perishing 
amid the confused uproar : even now my fears anticipate 
its fatal doom. For sad it is, for virgins scarce ripened in 
their bloom to pass from their homes on a hateful journey, 

(1) e fl? de t dSvperat opvis eirl a-(perepoi(ri veo<r<roi<; 
'OXXvjuevoii;, ovq r alvoq o^t?, ert vrjiriaxovraq, 
Oafxvois ev ttvkivomti Karea-BieC rj Se kcit avrov<; 
Iloi>ra.Tai KKa^ovaa paha Xiyv, nroTvia prjr>ip' 

Ov yap ex« tckvoio-iv eirapKea-ai. Moschus^ Idyl. 8'. .21. 

(2) "Erat Ogyges rex perantiquus, quern alii Atticre, alii Thebarum 
regem constituunt, in quibus irvXas 'Slyvyias voltint ab illo sic dictas, ip- 
sam urbem Ogygiam : unde Statius bellum hoc Ogygium vocat, VII. 33. 
Propter verb regis illius antiquitatem, antiqua omnia vocabantur nyvyta" 

Stanley. 



5G AESCHYLUS. 

before they have known the rites of love that crop its 
bleeding flower. But why should I dwell on such scenes ? 
I affirm, that the dead are happier in their lot than the 
living : for when a city is subdued, alas ! alas ! alas ! 
many and sad are the calamities it endures : one drags 
awav or kills another, or in a different direction bears 
fire ; the whole city is sullied by smoke ; and Mars, de- 
stroying the people and polluting piety, vents all the 
breathings of his rage : tumultuous clamours pervade the 
city ; and against its walls approaches the engine to storm 
the towers : man is slain by man, with the spear ; and 
the cries of infants at the breast are murmured inarticu- 
lately, being choked with blood ; and rapine begins, ac- 
companied with eager running through the streets : one, 
as he bears away the booty, gives the watchword to 
another ; and the spoiler who hath been luckless calls on 
his fellow, wishing to have him as a partner, but neither 
desiring a less nor an equal share. What of these calami- 
ties is it possible to paint in words ? The stores of various 
produce, being scattered on the ground, give pain to the 
beholder, and bitter is the countenance of the stewards of 
the house ; and the gifts of earth, indiscriminately mixed, 
are borne away in vast and unvalued streams : and the 
youthful handmaids are first made acquainted with sorrow, 
in consequence of a hostile victor having gained command 
of their wretched and enslaved embraces ; so that I trust 
life's gloomy close will first arrive, to bury beneath its tide 
our deeply- mournful woes. 

semi-chorus. — The spy, as it appears to me, my friends, 
brings to us some new intelligence from the army, urging 
in haste the chariot-like speed of his steps. 

semi-chorus. — And here, in truth, comes the king him- 
self, the son of CEdipus, at an opportune moment, to hear 
the tidings of his messenger ; and his haste also does not 
suffer his steps to be composed. 

messenger. — With your permission, I will relate, from 
my certain knowledge, intelligence of the enemy ; and 
how each, by lot, has obtained his station at the gates. 



SEVEN CHIEFS AGAINST THEBES. 57 

Tydeus, indeed, already rages at the Prcetian * gates ; but 
the prophet 2 will not permit him to pass the stream of 
Ismenus, because the sacrifices are not propitious. But 
Tydeus, madly impatient, and thirsting for the battle, 
sends forth his shouts like some serpent hissing in the 
midday heat 3 ; and he assails with reproach the wise 
prophet, son of (Ecleus, for dallying through cowardice 
with the approach of death and battle. Loudly uttering 
such taunts, he waves on high the three o'er-arching 
plumes that crest his helmet ; while the bells, wrought of 
brass, within his buckler, ring forth the note of fear. On 
his shield he bears this arrogant device — the sky em- 
blazoned as bright with stars; and the bright full moon, 
the eye of night and glory of the heavens, shines conspi- 
cuously in the middle of the shield. Displaying such 
madness in the vaunting bearings of his arms, he shouts 
his war-cry by the banks of the river ; and burning for the 
fray, he awaits its onset like some steed champing the bit, 
which, when it hears the sound of the trumpet, rushes for- 
ward to the war. Whom will you appoint to encounter 
this leader ? Who, when bolt and bar give way, may be 
held sufficient to defend his station at the gates of Prcetus ? 
eteocles. — I should not be inclined to fear any orna- 
ments of an enemy; nor do devices inflict wounds 4 . The 
crest and the bells pierce not, without the spear ; and even 
this night, which you describe as blazing on his shield with 
the stars of heaven, may haply, in a certain signification, 

(1) So called from a certain Prcetus, who, being driven out from Thebes 
by Acrisius, fixed his abode before the gate, which in after-ages bore his 
name. See Paus. IX. 12. 

(2) Amphiaraus. 

(3) " Ecce inter medios patriee ciet agmina gentis 

Fulmineus Tydeus, jam lsetus et integer artus, 

Ut primum strepuere tuba), ceu lubricus alta 

Anguis humo verni blanda et spiramina solis 

Erigitur liber, senio et squalentibus annis 

Exutus, la)tisque minax interviret herbis!" Slat. Theb. IV. 92. 

(4) " Non enim cristas vulnera facere ; et per picta atque aurata scuta 
transire Romanum pilum." — Liv. X. 39. 



58 AESCHYLUS. 

be prophetic of his doom : for if the shades of night shall 
settle on his dying eyes, this haughty device will rightly 
and justly fulfil the omen of its name on him that wears it, 
and he shall predict against himself the import of these 
boasting signs ! . But I will oppose to Tydeus the virtuous 
son of Astacus, as the defender of our gates ; a hero of 
noblest soul, who honours the throne of Modesty, and 
hates the words of the proud ; for he is slow to what is 
base, but is not wont to be a coward in action. His lineage 
is derived from the dragon race, whom Mars spared ; and 
Melanippus 2 is, in truth, a son of this soil: but Mars will 
decide the event in the hazard of the die. In the mean 
while, as being truly of the same blood, he is with justice 
sent forth to ward the hostile spear from the mother to 
whom he owes his birth. 

chorus. — May the Gods now grant my champion to 
prosper, since he advances, as becomes him, to fight in 
defence of his country ! But I tremble on account of my 
friends, lest I see their deadly fate, as they fall. 

messenger.— May the Gods indeed grant that he pro- 
sper, as you pray ! But Capaneus has obtained, by lot, his 
station at the Electran gates ; a giant he 3 , of even loftier 
bearing than the other I before described, and his boasts 
are beyond the bounds of human pride. Against these 

(1) " Hunc versum vulgo male explicant : Et ipse adversus se contumeliam 
vaticinaturus esset. Neque melius Schiitz, cum quo facit Schwenk. : El 
ipse secundum suam ipsius insolentiam vaticinabitur. Sensus hie videtur : 
Et ipse superbiam Mam, i.e. superbum Mud signum, vatic'mium vel omen in 
se ipsum fecerit." — Wellauer. 

(2) Melanippus was successful in the combat, and slew his antagonist : 

" Astacides Menalippus erat, nee prodidit ipse, 
Et vellet latuisse manum, sed gaudia turmte 
Monstrabant trepidum, nam flexus in ilia Tydeus 
Submissum latus, et clypei laxaverat orbem." Statim, VIII. 715. 
It is probable that he also fell himself in the battle ; for Pausanias makes 
mention of his tomb, as being situated without the Proetian gates, on the road 
to Chalcis. 

(3) " Unus ut e sylvis Pholoes habitator opaca\ 

Inter et JEtnteos rcquus consurgcre fratres." 

Statius, TfteO.llHiQi. 



SEVEN CHIEFS AGAINST THEBES. 59 

towers he utters threats, which I pray the God to frustrate ! 
for he declares that he will sack the city, whether the God 
be willing or not ; and that not even the angry bolt of Jove, 
hurled down to earth, should restrain him in his course 1 ; 
and he compares the lightning and the bolts of thunder to 
the midday heat of the sun. He has for his device a 
naked man bearing fire, who is armed with a blazing torch 
in his hands, and says, in golden letters, I will burn the 

city. Against such a warrior send . Who will 

encounter him ? Who, without fear, will await the attack 
of this boastful chief? 

eteocles. — In his case, also, a second advantage is pro- 
duced, in addition to the former 2 . Of the vain pride of 
men, the tongue proves the true accuser. But Capaneus 
utters threats, which he is prepared to execute, to the dis- 
honour of the Gods ; and practising his tongue in unwise 
exultation, he, though a mortal, vents his tumid boasts to 
be heard by Jove in heaven. But I trust that the fire- 
breathing bolt of thunder will descend with just vengeance 
on his head 3 , its flames in nought to be compared with the 
midday heat of the sun. But an opponent hath been 
chosen to meet him, even though he be so threatening in 
his words ; a gallant spirit, the mighty Polyphontes, one 
whom we may trust to maintain our defence, if favoured 

(1) " Capanei apud inferos etiam in Jovem ferocientis prseclaram de- 
scriptionem habes apud Dantem in Divina Commedia Infern. Cant. XIV. 
unde imagines quasdam mutuatus est Miltonus noster in Paradis. Amiss, 
lib. I." — Butler. 

(2) " Intelligit autem idem fatum fore Capanei quod Tydei." — Stanley. 

(3) We are informed by Euripides that his fate was such as Eteocles 
predicts : — 

J H5>7 vTrepfiaivovTCL yet<r<ra reixewv 

BaKXei Kepavvco Zev<; viv. Phosn. 1187. 

And Vegetius, IV. 21. accounts on more common principles for the 
fact : " Qui scalis in obsidione urbium utuntur frequenter periculiim sus- 
tinent ; exemplo Capanei, a, quo primum scalarum propugnatio perhibetur 
inventa, qui tanta mole lapidum fuit obrutus a Thebanis, ut fulminibus 
dicatur extinctus." 



60 ^ISCHYLUS. 

by Diana, our guardian Power, and aided by the other 
Gods. — Tell of some other, who has obtained his station 
at a different gate. 

chorus. — May he perish who threatens such outrage to 
the city ! and may the bolt of thunder check his career, 
before he rushes within my home, and with conquering 
spear bears me away from my virgin chambers ! 

messenger. — I will now speak of him who hath next 
obtained his station at the gates. For Eteoclus was the 
third to whom the third lot leapt from the inverted brazen 
helmet, appointing him to lead his bands against the Nei'tan 
gates: and he turns upon the plain his steeds, that fret 
against their frontlet trappings, and pant to pour their 
fury against the gates ; and their bridles ring wildly, being 
filled with the breath of their snorting nostrils. But 
his shield hath been fashioned with no mean device : for 
a warrior, in full armour, is advancing up the steps of a 
ladder to the tower of the enemy, wishing to storm it ; 
and he too exclaims, in the syllables of letters, that not 
even Mars should force him from the battlements. Against 
this leader send also an opponent on whom we may rely, 
to ward off the yoke of slavery from the city. 

eteocles. — I would willingly send such a man ; and may 
it be with the favour of fortune ! for he hath already been 
sent, a hero who bears no boast to the war, Megareus, the 
son of Creon, who owns his lineage from the teeth of the 
dragon ; and who will not retreat from the gates, daunted 
by the mad noise of neighing horses, but, either dying, shall 
repay the debt of nurture to his native land, or, taking 
both the two men and the city on the shield, shall adorn 
with spoils the house of his father. — Now boast of another, 
nor be unwilling to tell me. 

chorus. — I pray that this chief may prosper, the cham- 
pion of our homes ! and that his adversaries may fail ; and, 
as they utter arrogant threats against the city, in the 
madness of their souls, thus may Jove, the avenger, look 
down on them in his wrath ! 



SEVEN CHIEFS AGAINST THEBES. 61 

messenger. — Another, the fourth, having the neighbour- 
ing gates of Onca 1 Minerva allotted him, stands by them, 
loudly shouting, the haughty bearing and giant form of 
Hippomedon. I shuddered as he moved round the vast 
circumference — I mean the orb of his shield : I will not 
deny it. But he that made the device was no mean artist, 
who furnished this representation to the shield — a Typhon, 
emitting from his fire-breathing mouth the dark smoke, 
the flickering brother of flame ; and the orbed boss of the 
hollow shield hath been made firm with wreaths of ser- 
pents. But he himself raised the shout of battle, and, in- 
spired by Mars, maddens, like some Maenad 2 , for the com- 
bat, flashing terror from his eyes. We must guard well 
against the attempts of such an enemy ; for fear is already 
excited at the gates by his boasts. 

eteocles. — In the first place, Onca Minerva, who 
dwells near our city, the neighbour of its gates, will, in 
hatred of the insolence of this man, repel him from her 
young, like some noxious dragon; and Hyperbius, the 
virtuous son of QEnops, has been chosen to encounter 
him, foe with foe, willing to question his fate in the crisis 
of fortune, and faultless in form, in courage, and in the 
array of his arms. Mercury has with good reason, 
brought them together : for the hero is hostile to the hero 
with whom he will engage, and they will bring to the 
conflict hostile Gods on their shields : for Hippomedon 
bears the fire-breathing Typhon; but on the shield of 
Hyperbius, Father Jove is represented standing with his 
blazing bolt in his hand ; and no one has yet seen Jove in 
any conflict subdued. Such, then, is the friendship of the 
Deities ; and we are on the side of the victors, and they of 
die vanquished, if Jove at least be stronger in fight than 

(1) Minerva derived this appellation from a village of Boeotia, where 
Cadmus had erected her statue. 

(2) " Qualis commotis excita sacris 

Thyias, ubi audito stimulant trieterica Baccho 
Orgia, nocturnusque vocat clamore Citheeron." 

Virg.JEn. IV. 301. 



62 ^ISCHYLUS. 

Typhon. But it is reasonable to suppose that the mortal 
antagonists will have corresponding fortunes ; and, in ac- 
cordance with the device, may Jove, who is represented on 
the shield of Hyperbius, prove his preserver ! 

chorus. — I trust that he, who bears on his shield the 
adversary of Jove, the hateful form of the earth-born 
deity, an image abhorred both by mortals and the long- 
lived Gods, shall lay his head in dust before the gates ! 

messenger. — May it be so ! — But I will now tell of the 
fifth, who is stationed at the fifth Borrsean gates, beside the 
very tomb of Amphion, the son of Jove ; and he swears by 
the spear which he bears, daring to hold it in higher reve- 
rence than a God 1 and dearer than his eyes, that he will 
lay waste the city of the Cadmeans, even in spite of Jove. 
Thus boasts the offspring of a mother whose dwelling 
was amid the mountains, a hero of beauteous aspect, and 
endowed with manly vigour in his youth ; for the down is 
just appearing on his cheek, and the thick hairs engendered 
by his ripening years begin to arise. But he, having a 
savage spirit, not in accordance with the name he derived 
from the virgin nymph 2 , and a stern countenance, abides at 
his station. Not without boasts, however, does he stand 
beside our gates ; for he brandishes on his brazen shield 
the disgrace of this city, the bright embossed figure of the 
ravenous Sphinx, affixed by studs to the orbed defence of 
his body ; and she bears in her talons a man, one of the 
Cadmeans, so that the greatest number of darts should fall 
on him 3 . But this youth, the Arcadian Parthenopaeus, 

(1) " Dextra, mihi Deus, et telum, quod missile libro." 

Virg. /En. X. 773. 

(2) Parthenopseus was the son of Meleager and Atalanta ; and derived 
his name from the circumstance of his mother having been one of the virgin 
attendants of Diana. Statius has also celebrated him for his beauty : 

" Pulchrior baud ulli triste ad discrimen ituro 
Vultus, et egregise tanta indnlgentia fornw : 
Nee desunt animi, veniat modo fortior retas." 

Thcb. IV. 251. 

(3) The figure of the Theban on the shield ; and not Parthenoprcus 
himself, as it had been interpreted by Heath. 



SEVEN CHIEFS AGAINST THEBES. 63 

having come, seems as if he would not lightly barter the 
fight, nor disgrace the distant journey of this expedition ; 
and he, a hero such as I have described, having dwelt as a 
stranger in Argos, and now repaying to it the splendid re- 
compence of his nurture, utters threats against these towers, 
which I pray the God to frustrate. 

eteocles. — Would that they may receive from the Gods 
the same doom that they design against us in these 
impious boasts ! for then should they surely perish, in 
utter ruin and misery. But there is opposed also to the 
Arcadian of whom you speak, a man whose tongue boasts 
not of prowess, but whose hand is awake to a warrior's 
deeds ; Actor, the brother of the chief I last mentioned ; 
and one who will not permit a boasting tongue, unseconded 
by action, to come within the gates and augment our evils ; 
nor will admit within the city him who bears on his hostile 
shield the image of that savage and hateful monster, who, 
being without, shall have no cause to thank him who at- 
tempts to bear her within, in consequence of meeting with 
many a blow beneath our walls. If the Gods be willing, I 
would gladly prove true in the event I foretell. 

chorus. — The words I have heard penetrate to my 
heart ; and the locks of my hair stand on end, as I hear the 
proud boasts of these vaunting and impious men. I there- 
fore pray that the Gods may destroy them in this land ! 

messenger. — I will now, if you please, tell of the sixth, 
a chief of most modest demeanour, and yet unequalled in 
courage, the might of the prophet Amphiaraus. Sta- 
tioned at the Homoloian 1 gates, he reviles with many 
reproaches the valiant Tydeus 2 , denouncing him as a 

(1) The Homoloian gates derived their name, according to one of the 
Scholiasts, from a daughter of Niobe. This explanation is more satis- 
factory than that which ascribes the honour of the title to the Homoloian 
Jupiter ; as we are still left in ignorance, by the latter, of the meaning of 
the epithet, as applied to the God. 

(2) Amphiaraus directs his reproaches against Tydeus, as being the chief 
instigator of the war ; which he had himself dissuaded, and of which his 
prophetic power enabled him to foresee the fatal termination. 



64 .ESCHYLUS. 

homicide 1 , the disturber of the state, the principal author 
of calamities to Argos, the summoner of the Fury, the mini- 
ster of slaughter, and the adviser that prompted Adrastus 
to these evils. And next approaching your brother, the 
mighty Polynices, with scowling eye, and twice dividing his 
name into syllables, he calls on him, and utters these words 
from his lips : — " Truly it is a godlike deed, and by Gods 
esteemed, to give to devastation the city of your fathers 
and the Gods of your country, invading them with a 
foreign enemy ! But what plea of right shall staunch the 
fount of a mother's tears ? Shall thy native land, when 
conquered by the spear in consequence of thy exertions, 
ever lend thee friendly aid ? I indeed shall fatten its soil, 
lying in a hostile land a prophet within the tomb. But 
now for the battle ! I look not for a coward's death." 
Thus spoke the prophet, as he waved on high the shining 
orb of his brazen shield : but within that orb no device 
appeared ; for he does not wish to appear but to be just 2 , 
cultivating in his soul those deep furrows from which 
spring the counsels of wisdom. I recommend to you to 
send wise and brave opponents to meet him, for terrible is 
the might of the warrior who reverences the Gods. 

eteocles. — Alas for the omen that unites a just man 
with that impious crew ! In all the affairs of life there is 
nothing more hurtful than to hold communion with the 
wicked, and no harvest of advantage is to be reaped from 
it. For either a pious man, having embarked in a vessel 
with mariners prone to violence and with some deed of 
deepest sin, perishes along with a race of men condemned 
by heaven; or living, himself upright among fellow- 
citizens who violate the laws of hospitality and disregard 
the Gods, having justly fallen into the same toils and 

(1) Tydeus was the son of (Eneus the king of Calydon, but had fled to 
Argos on account of having killed one of his kinsmen. 

(2) "Huicfabulre primiim actffl interfuit Aristides cognominatus Justus ; 
qui ad hrac verba, totius theatri oculos in se conversos habuit. Plutarch. 
Apophthegm. Reg. ct due. p. 186. Tale Sallustianum illud de M. Catone, 
Bell. Catil. c. 57. Esse quam videri bonus maldaC — Stanley. 



SEVEN CHIEFS AGAINST THEBES. 65 

being struck with the scourge of the God, he sinks a 
victim in the common ruin. Thus this prophet, (I mean 
the son of CEcleus,) temperate, just, virtuous, pious, and 
famed for skill in his art, having, in spite of his better 
judgment, associated himself with companions impious in 
their deeds and arrogant in their words, shall, if Jove be 
willing, share in the overthrow of those who have under- 
taken this distant expedition in the vain hope of again re- 
turning. I therefore think that he will not even approach 
to the gates ; not through fear or cowardice of dispo- 
sition, but because he knows that he must die in this 
battle, if there is to be fulfilment to the oracles of Apollo. 
But he is wont to be silent, or to speak what suits the oc- 
casion. Notwithstanding, we shall appoint against him the 
mighty Lasthenes, a guardian of our gates, no friend to 
strangers, with the wisdom of age in his mind but the 
vigour of youth in his person, keen in the glance of his 
eye, and not slow with his hand to snatch from beside his 
shield his unsheathed weapon. But the success of mor- 
tals is the gift of the Gods. 

chorus. — May the Gods, hearing my just supplications, 
favourably accord success to the city, scattering, in the 
deadly strife of the spear, the invaders of our country ! 
and may Jove, repelling them from these towers, slay 
them with his bolt of thunder ! 

messenger. — I will now relate of the seventh leader, 
at the seventh gate — your own brother ; what calamities 
he imprecates, and entreats, by vows, to befall the city ; — 
that, having scaled its towers and been proclaimed king of 
the land, and having loudly raised the paean of capture, he 
may encounter you, and, slaying you, die by your side; 
or, if you live, repay, in the same manner, with exile, you 
who stripped him of his honours and drove him forth 
from the land. Thus the mighty Polynices exclaims, and 
vehemently implores the Gods of his race and of his na- 
tive country to regard his prayers. But he bears a shield, 
fresh from the forge and light to the arm, with a double 
device attached to it ; for a certain woman leads under her 

F 



66 jESCHYLUS. 

temperate guidance a warrior embossed in gold and ap- 
pearing armed to the view ; and she says, according to the 
purport of the letters, " My name is Justice ; and I will 
both restore this man, and he shall obtain possession of the 
city of his fathers, and return to his home. 1 "' Such are 
their devices \ But do you yourself now determine whom 
you think it best to send ; so that you may never blame 
me on account of my intelligence, and you may know 
yourself how to direct the city aright. 

eteocles. — O race of (Edipus, rendered frantic by 

heaven and the great abhorrence of the Gods! O sad 

source from which I have sprung ! Now, too surely, (woe 

is me !) are the curses of my father fulfilled. But it is 

neither fitting to weep nor to lament, lest thence a more 

intolerable cause of sorrow should be engendered. But 

I say to Polynices, who hath rightly derived his name from 

contention, that we shall soon know what his devices will 

produce; and whether the golden letters, that foolishly 

display on his shield the madness of his mind, will effect 

his return. If Justice, the virgin daughter of Jove, were 

present to his deeds and thoughts, this might haply be ; 

but Justice never regarded him with favour, nor claimed 

him as her own, neither at the time when he escaped from 

the darkness of his mother's womb, nor in his infancy, nor 

in his youth, nor in the thickening of the hairs of his 

beard ; nor do I deem she will now come to Ins assistance, 

in this unjust occupation of his native country : for Justice 

would most justly be held unworthy of her name, were 

she to join the cause of a man who is prone to extreme 

violence in his thoughts. Trusting to these hopes, I go, 

and will myself encounter him. Who may more justly 

claim this combat ? I will engage in it, leader with leader, 

brother with brother, and foe with foe ! Bring, with all 

speed, my greaves, the armour of defence against the 

spear and stones ! 

(1) This scene, which is magnificent in its descriptions and general de- 
tail, is also curious, as affording us the earliest notice that is known of 
heraldic bearings. 



SEVEN CHIEFS AGAINST THEBES. 67 

chorus. — Do not, dearest of men, son of CEdipus, be 
like in temper to him whom you have so much reviled ! 
Let it suffice that the Cadmean citizens meet the Argives 
in battle ; for their blood may be atoned for : but when 
brothers die, each by the others hand, there is no old age 
incident to such pollution. 

eteocles. — If any one must submit to evils, let it be 
without disgrace ; for this is the only gain that results to 
the dead : but from what is cowardly or base you cannot 
boast of any fair fame. 

chorus. — And do you abide by your resolution, my 
son ? O be not hurried away by the maddening rage for 
battle that fills your mind, but banish the first emotions of 
baneful passion ! 

eteocles. — Since the God with all his power urges our 
fates to their close, let the whole race of Laius, hated by 
Apollo and destined to Cocytus, drift before the gale to 
its waters ! 

chorus. — Too fierce is that cannibal desire that urges 
you to seek the blood of slaughter that is forbidden to be 
shed, and bitter in the fruits of its retribution. 

eteocles. — For the cruel and fatal curse of my dear 
father presents itself before me with glazed and tearless 
eyes, suggesting the advantage of an early rather than a 
later death 1 . 

chorus. — But do not you hasten its completion ; for you 
shall not be esteemed base, if you order well your life. 
The Fury disturbs not with her murky tempests the abodes 
of men from whose hands the Gods receive the sacrifice. 

eteocles. — We are already in a manner abandoned by 
heaven; and the joy produced by our destruction is 
gratefully welcomed by the Gods. Why then should we 
any longer court a delay of death ? 

chorus. — Even now, when the opportunity is presented 

(1) Commentators are not by any means agreed as to the meaning of this 
passage. Wellauer, the last Editor of our Poet, takes it thus : " Denun- 
tians lucrum, quod prius erit morte posieriore, i.e. victoriam, quam sequetur 
mors, qui sensus, consulto obscurius expressus, aptissimus videtur." 

F 2 



68 tESCHYLUS. 

to you : since Fortune, veering to a late change of spirit, 
may yet visit you, perchance, with more genial gales : but 
now her fury is at the height. 

eteocles. — For the curses of CEdipus have furiously 
burst forth ; and too true were the visions of the dreams 
of night that foretold the distribution of my father's wealth. 

chorus. — O listen, though reluctant, to a woman's prayer ! 

eteocles. — Speak, then, that which I may permit : and 
be brief as is fitting. 

chorus. — Do not tread the path that leads to the seventh 
gate. 

eteocles. — You cannot turn by words the whetted edge 
of my purpose. 

chorus. — The God, however, honours victory, even 
when obtained without glory \ 

eteocles. — It befits not an armed chief to approve of 
such a sentiment. 

chorus. — Can you wish to shed the blood of your own 
brother ? 

eteocles. — If the Gods grant my wishes, he shall not 
escape unharmed. 

chorus. — I shudder with dread of the Fiend that lays 
waste this house, a Goddess not bearing the trace of hea- 
venly nature, too truly felt, too sadly predicted ; lest now, 
listening to the prayers of a father, she fulfil the angry 
curses of the maddened CEdipus. This murderous con- 
tention of his children excites her aid ; and the Chalybian 
stranger, from the land of the Scythians, is dealing out the 
lots, a bitter divider of the wealth of their possessions, the 
ruthless sword, that but assigns them so much land for their 
dwelling as they shall occupy when dead, baffled in their 
hopes of a wider domain. But when they shall have 
fallen by mutual slaughter, each by a brother s hand, and 
the dust of the earth have absorbed the black and gory 



(1.) "Nw; Kant) hie non est victoria injusta, sed, ut bene Stanleius, 
ingloria, i. e. ab liomine ignavo, et qui pericula ipse detrectat, aliorum 
virtute rep°rtata." — Heath. 



SEVEN CHIEFS AGAINST THEBES. 69 

clots of their blood, who shall bring the expiation ? who 
shall cleanse them from that stain ? Alas for the new sorrows 
of the house that mingle with its ancient ills ! For I speak of 
the old transgression of the race visited by a speedy pu- 
nishment; — but it remains to the third generation ; — when 
Laius, (in spite of Apollo, who thrice announced from the 
central shrines of Pytho that if he died without offspring 
he should save the city,) being overcome by the persua- 
sions of his friends *, begat in his madness the author of 
his own death, the parricide CEdipus, who dared to plant 
in the forbidden field from which he sprung the germ of 
future bloodshed 2 . Madness united the infatuated pair ; 
and like a sea, it rolls onward the waves of calamity, one 
subsiding as another rears its triple crest, and loudly 
beats against the stern of the city. But between us and 
destruction our towers extend their defence only for a 
slight breadth ; and I fear, lest, along with our princes, the 
city be subdued : for the ancient curses are fulfilled, and 
the sad reconciliation and its bloody close pass not away. 
The prosperity of inventive men, when enriched to excess, 
entails the necessity of casting overboard from the stern. 
For whom of men did the Gods, and his fellow-citizens 
and the fruitful generations of mortals, so much admire, as 
they honoured CEdipus, when he removed from this country 
the pest that destroyed its inhabitants ? But after he re- 
gained his senses, being grieved on account of his unhappy 
nuptials and impatient of suffering, he wrought, in the 
phrensy of his spirit, two evil designs ; — with the hand that 
slew his father, he deprived himself of his eyes, that were 
more valuable to him than his children ; and indignant on 
account of his stinted subsistence, he poured forth the 
curses of bitter imprecation on his sons, and prayed that 
with sword in hand they might one day divide their posses- 
sions : and now I tremble, lest Erinnys, whose feet are swift 
to shed blood, fulfil that prayer. 



(1) "A quibus ebrius factus cum uxore concubuit."— Stanley-. 

(2) In allusion to his sons, Eteocles and Polynices. 



70 AESCHYLUS. 

messenger. — Be of good cheer, ye virgins, daughters of 
our dames ! This country has escaped the yoke of slavery : 
the boastings of the men of violence have been humbled ; 
and the city is both past the dangers of the storm, and in 
the many dashings of the waves hath not admitted their 
surge. Our towers remain proof against assault ; and we 
have fenced the gates with champions, who, in the single 
combat, bore them worthy of the trust. At six gates our 
fortunes, for the most part, have prospered ; but at the 
seventh, King Apollo has taken his place, the awful seventh 
leader, wreaking on the race of GEdipus the ancient in- 
fatuation of Laius. 

chorus. — What unwonted 1 event has happened to the 
city? 

messenger. — The chiefs have died by mutual slaughter. 

chorus. — Who ? what sayest thou ? I am distracted 
through terror of your words. 

messenger. — Now, composing yourself, hear my answer 
— the children of CEdipus. 

chorus. — Alas for my afflictions ! I am the prophetess 
of evils ! 

messenger — Too truly are they laid low in dust ! 

chorus. — And have they come to this ? Sad, indeed, is 
your intelligence ! yet still relate it. 

messenger. — Too fatally, as I have told, they fell, each 
by a brother's hand. 

chorus. — Thus a common fate was shared by both ! 

messenger. — Even the fate which destroys all their un- 
happy race. 

chorus. — We may both rejoice and mourn at the event : 
rejoicing, that our country has been preserved ; but mourn- 
ing, that its princes, the two leaders, have divided all the 

(1) NeoKoros here, as well as in other passages of J3schylus, means 
more than new, which is the translation generally given of it, and implies, 
even in its most literal sense, novce indolis, or novi generis. Some strange 
and momentous consequence might be expected from the marked inter- 
ference of Apollo; and the question of the Chorus very naturally points 
to such a conclusion. 






SEVEN CHIEFS AGAINST THEBES. 71 

possessions of their wealth with the well-forged Scythian 
sword. And they shall gain of their territories only so 
much as they occupy in the tomb ; being hurried away to 
destruction, according to the dark omens of their father's 
curses. 

messenger. — The city is saved; but the earth hath 
drunk the blood of the royal brothers, who perished by 
mutual slaughter. 

chorus. — O mighty Jove, and guardian Gods of our 
city, who manifestly defend these towers of Cadmus ! 
whether shall I rejoice, and wake the strains of triumph to 
the God that hath preserved our country from danger ? or 
shall I shed the tear for the wretched death of its ill-fated 
and childless chiefs, who, justifying too truly by their 
thirst of contention the omen of a name, perished in their 
impious designs ? O dark and fatal curse of the race of 
CEdipus ! the chill of horror is curdling around my heart ! 
With the phrensy of a Maenad I framed this dirge for 
their burial, when I heard that they lay dead amid their 
reeking blood, the victims of a mournful slaughter. How 
fatal in its omens was their encounter of the spear ! The 
import of their fathers curses hath been fulfilled, and hath 
not failed in its effect : the counsels of the unbelieving 
Laius pervade to his posterity with their punishment : 
and anxious cares are felt through the city ; for the venge- 
ance of heaven hath not been predicted in vain. O ye 
lamented youths ! ye have wrought in this an incredible 
deed, and sufferings have visited you in sad reality. The 
proof is manifest ; and our eyes behold, what the messenger 
described, a twofold grief : the mishap of the two chiefs 
who perished by each other's hands, and the sufferings of 
the fate which they shared, are all now perfected. In 
what terms shall I characterize them? how otherwise, 
than as being troubles upon troubles that never forsake 
this house ? But do ye, O my friends, ply adown the tide 
of sorrow the speeding stroke of the hands on the head, 
which ever conducts through Acheron the sacred bark of 



72 AESCHYLUS. 

sable sails, whose freight is groans, and whose crew the 
dead, bearing it to that unseen shore that is never trod by 
Apollo, and to the abodes that are appointed for all living. 
— But cease ; for here come Antigone and Ismene, to fulfil 
a mournful duty in singing the dirge of their brothers. 
I deem that in no equivocal grief they will pour from their 
lovely and shapely bosoms a strain that is worthy of their 
woe. But it is fitting, before they uplift their voices, that 
we should utter the dismal notes of the hymn of Erinnys, 
and chaunt to Pluto his hateful paean. Alas ! ye that are 
the most unhappy in your brothers of all that bind the 
girdle around their robes, I weep, I groan, and, without 
deceit, pour forth from my soul its sincere sorrows ! 

sem. — Alas ! alas ! ye infatuated youths, who, deaf to 
the persuasions of your friends and unwearied in cala- 
mities, sought, beneath an evil destiny, to obtain by the 
spear the possession of your father's house ! 

sem. — Wretched, indeed, they were, who met with a 
wretched death, to the ruin of their house. 

sem. — Alas ! alas ! ye who overthrew the walls of your 
house, and saw a bitter reign as kings, have now been 
reconciled by the sword ! 

sem. — And the awful Fury of your father CEdipus hath 
fulfilled too truly his curses. 

sem. — Pierced through the left breast. 

sem. — Yes, and pierced through their kindred sides. 

sem. — Alas ! alas ! for your unhappy fate ! and alas for 
the curses of the dead repaying with death ! 

sem. — You speak of the mortal blow. 

sem. — I speak of them who were fatally wounded in their 
fortunes and their lives. 

sem. — With silent fury, and with fatal discord, impre- 
cated by their father. 

chorus. — But lamentation pervades even the city : its 
towers groan, and the land mourns through affection for 
its sons : and for their posterity remain the possessions on 
account of which contention, and death in the end, came on 



SEVEN CHIEFS AGAINST THEBES. 73 

the unhappy brothers. In the fierceness of their hearts, 
they divided their possessions, so as to obtain an equal 
share ; but the arbiter gave not satisfaction to their 
friends, nor did joy result from the strife. 

sem. — Pierced by the sword, here they lie : and prepared 
by the sword, there awaits them — perhaps some one might 
ask, What ? — the inheritance of the tombs of their fathers. 

sem. — Our heart-rending sorrow sends forth to them its 
deep notes from the house, the grief as the loss its own, 
with thoughts of woe and averse to joy, pouring forth tears 
in sincerity from the soul, which pines away in affliction, 
as I weep for these two princes. 

sem. — We may assert with truth of these unhappy 
youths, that they wrought many evils to the citizens, and 
to the ranks of all the strangers who fell thickly in the fight. 

sem. — Wretched was she who bore them, above all 
women, as many as have been called mothers. Having 
taken her own son as husband, she brought forth these 
children ; and they have thus fallen by the mutual slaughter 
of kindred hands. 

sem. — Kindred indeed they were, yet deadly to the 
uttermost, in that unkind severing, in the phrensy of anger 
and the close of the strife. But their enmity has ceased, 
and their life-blood is mingled in the reeking earth ; and 
too truly they are of the same blood ! Fatal was the ar- 
biter of their contentions, the stranger from beyond 
the sea, the whetted sword rushing from the fire; and 
Mars, making their fathers curses true, proved a fatal and 
cruel divider of their wealth. Unhappy youths ! they have 
only obtained a portion of calamities inflicted by heaven ; 
and in the tomb their possessions of earth shall be bound- 
less. Alas ! ye have made this house teem with a thou- 
sand woes ; and at its fall these Furies wildly raised the 
notes of triumph on high, as its race gave way in utter 
rout and ruin. And the Fiend hath placed the trophies of 
Ate at the gates where they slew each other; and having 
now made both a prey, hath ceased from havoc. 



74 AESCHYLUS. 

ANTIGONE, TSMENE. 

antigone. — Struck, you struck \ 

ismene. — And you died, having slain. 

ant. — You slew with the spear. 

ism. — And by the spear you died. 

ant. — Inflicting anguish. 

ism. — And suffering anguish in return. 

ant. — Let the wail arise. 

ism. — Let the tears flow. 

ant. — Having slain, he shall lie among the dead. 

ism. — Alas 1 alas ! 

ant. — My mind is maddened by grief. 

ism. — And my heart mourns within me. 

ant. — Alas ! you require all our tears. 

ism. — And you, too, are utterly wretched. 

ant. — By a friend you died. 

ism. — And a friend you slew. 

ant. — Double woes to tell ! 

ism. — And double woes to see ! 

ant. — Our calamities approach near to their calamities. 

ism. — And we sisters are near our brothers. 

chorus. — Alas ! alas ! thou destiny of sorrow that load- 
est us with evils ! and thou awful shade 2 of GEdipus, dark 
Fiend, too truly thy influence is of mighty power ! 

ant. — Alas ! alas ! these calamities horrible to view 



(1) "In alternis quee sequuntur dictis observandum est, Antigonem 
semper de Polynice, Ismenen verb Eteocle loqui." — Schutz. 

(2) " Miror utrumque Scholiastem hoc accepisse, quasi GEdipus adhuc 
in vivis fuerit, cum in tota hac fabula nihil reperiatur quod id suadere 
possit. Gemina fuit veterum de hac re sententia : alii, quorum Diodorus 
Siculus, tradunt CEdipi filios, cum ad setatem pervenissent, patrem suum 
coegisse ob dedecus non egredi domum, ipsos verb alternatim regnum ad- 
ministrasse: at ex Pausania et Suida constat fratres nondum imperium 
suscepisse, donee GEdipus vita cesserat. Priorem licet sententiam sequuti 
sint Sophocles et Euripides, nihil tamen exigit quin credam iEschylum 
posterioris fuisse. Zwa et umbra de mortui manibus frequentissime su- 
mitur." — Stanley. 



SEVEN CHIEFS AGAINST THEBES. 75 

ism. — He displayed to me after his return from exile. 

ant. — Nor did he come back when he had slain. 

ism. — But after having been saved, he lost his life. 

ant. — Too truly he lost it. 

ism. — Yes, and deprived his brother of his life. 

ant. — Wretched race ! 

ism. — Wretched have been their sufferings. 

ant. — And wretched their griefs, in accordance with the 
omen of the name K 

ism. — Their fortunes have been steeped in deadliest ca- 
lamity. 

ant. — Mournful to tell. 

ism. — And mournful to see. 

chorus. — Alas! alas! thou destiny of sorrow, that 
loadest us with evils ! and thou, awful shade of CEdipus, 
dark Fiend, too truly thy influence is of mighty power ! 

ant. — You, for one, know it by experience. 

ism. — And you, too, have learned it no later. 

ant. — When you returned to the city. 

ism. — An adversary of the spear to your brother. 

ant. — Mournful to tell. 

ism. — Mournful to see. 

ant. — Alas ! what anguish ! 

ism. — Alas ! what evils to this house ! 

ant. — Alas ! and also to this land ; but, above all, to me ! 

ism. — Alas ! alas ! and still more to me ! 

ant. — Alas ! alas ! for our wretched sorrows. 

ism. — O king Eteocles, our leader ! 

ant. — O ye, who have been of all the most miserable ! 

ism. — Alas ! alas ! ye were driven, by phrensy, to ill. 

ant. — Alas ! alas ! where shall we lay them in earth ? 

ism. — Alas ! alas ! in the most honourable tomb. 

(1) "KtjSea nimirum pro fratribus, quorum cura nondum sorores dese- 
ruerat. 'Oficowfxa, quia ambo dulcissimo fratrum nomine compellandi 

erant." Schutz. " Sed aliter Interpres Gallicus, et, ni fallor, rectius, 

cui- prsecessit Heath : " Race accablee de maux deplorables, presages par 
Ion nom (a Polynice). Ssepe jam supra vidimus iEschylum talibus allu- 
sionibus delectari.*" — -Butler. 



76 iESCHYLUS. 

ant.- — Alas! alas! their slaughtered bodies shall lie 
beside our father. 

HERALD. 

It is my duty to announce what has been approved of, 
and resolved upon, by the leaders of the people, in this city 
of Cadmus. It has been decreed to bury this body of 
Eteocles, on account of his good-will towards the country, 
with a friendly sepulture in its soil : for he met with death 
in the city while repelling the enemy ; and, free from pol- 
lution with respect to the sacred rights of his country, he 
fell without a stain, where it is honourable for the young to 
die. Concerning Eteocles, indeed, it has thus been com- 
manded me to speak : but it has been decreed to cast out 
the dead body of his brother Polynices, unburied, a prey 
to dogs ; since he would have brought ruin on this land of 
Cadmus, if some one of the Gods had not stood in oppo- 
sition to his spear : and even in death he shall be held pol- 
luted in the ^sight of his country's Gods, whom he dis- 
honouring, attempted to storm the city, by leading a foreign 
army against it. It therefore seems good, that he, being 
entombed with ignominy by winged birds, should receive 
his just reward ; and that neither the labour of the hand 
in raising the mound attend his burial, nor that men honour 
him with the strains of shrill lamentation, but that he be 
disgracefully deprived of being borne to his funeral by 
his friends. Such resolutions have seemed good to the 
rulers of the Cadmeans. 

Antigone. — But I say to the rulers of the Cadmeans, 
that, if no other be willing to aid me in his burial, I 
will bury him, and will expose myself to the danger in 
performing this duty to my brother ! Nor do I feel 
ashamed to display this disobedience, in opposition to the 
commands of the State. There is a strong tie in the com- 
mon source from which we sprung, of our wretched 
mother and of our unhappy father : share therefore, in 
his sorrows, O my soul ! with kindred affection, willing with 
the unwilling, living with the dead, But the ravenous 
wolves shall not mangle his flesh ! — let no one suppose it ; 



SEVEN CHIEFS AGAINST THEBES. 77 

for I myself, though a woman, will contrive for him a tomb, 
and a grave beneath the ground, bearing earth in the fold 
of my robe of fine linen, and with my own hands will cover 
him : let no one think the contrary : a skill equal to effect 
its purpose shall second my courage. 

herald. — I bid you not act violently against the State, 
in this design. 

ant. — And I bid you not bring your idle messages 
to me. 

herald. — The people, however, are severe, after having 
escaped from dangers. 

ant. — Severe indeed ! but still, he shall not be unburied. 

herald. — But will you honour with a tomb him whom 
the city condemns ? 

ant. — His fortunes hitherto have not been held in 
dishonour by the Gods *. 

herald. — They have not, before at least he exposed this 
country to danger. 

ant. — Having suffered evils, he retaliated the same. 

herald. — But his enterprise was directed against all, 
instead of one. Contention is the last Goddess to finish a 
dispute. 

ant. — But I will bury him : do not waste your words. 

herald. — But know that you do it on your own coun- 
sel ; for I forbid it. 

chorus. — Alas ! alas ! O fatal Furies, triumphant in the 
destruction of this race ! how utterly have ye extirpated the 
family of (Edipus ! What will become of me ? — what shall 
I do ? — what can I devise ? How shall I endure, neither to 
weep for your death, nor to conduct your body to the 
tomb ? I would willingly, but that I fear and shrink from 
the threats of the citizens. You 2 , indeed, shall have many 
a mourner; but he 3 , the wretched, departs, unlamented, 

(1) "Locus mihi sic interpretandus videtur: Num jam h Diis hie 
dehonestatus est? ut ov Siareri/Ji^Tai positum sit pro rfreTifxtjrai. Quare 
interrogationis notam addidi, quee vulgo abest. Huic deinde interroga- 
tion! aptissimum est quod respondet prseco." — Wellauer. 

(2) Eteocles. (3) Polynices. 



78 .ESCHYLUS. 

with only the sorrowful dirges of a sister. Who can 
endure such cruelty ? 

sem. — Let the city fulfil, or not fulfil, its threats against 
those w T ho lament Polynices. We indeed will go; and, 
leading the procession, will assist at his burial. For 
this grief is common to the people, and the State at 
different times approves of different maxims of justice. 

sem. — But we will accompany Eteocles, as the State and 
justice alike approve ; for, next to the blessed Gods and 
the power of Jupiter, he saved the city of the Cadmeans 
from being destroyed and fatally overwhelmed by the tor- 
rent of foreign enemies. 



THE PERSIANS 



PERSONS OF THE DRAMA. 



CHORUS. 
ATOSSA. 
MESSENGER. 
GHOST OF DARIUS. 
XERXES. 



THE PERSIANS. 



CHORUS. 

We are the Faithful Band left by the Persians who de- 
parted to the shores of Greece, the guardians of these 
wealthy seats 1 and their stores of gold, whom our king 
himself, Xerxes, the royal son of Darius, selected, on ac- 
count of eminence, to bear sway over the country. But 
my mind is already dreadfully agitated within my breast, 
through evil presage respecting the return of the king, and 
of his warlike bands that went forth richly arrayed in 
gold ; for all the strength of the land hath departed from 
Asia, and she 2 moans for the absence of her youthful hero. 
And neither does any courier nor horseman come to the 
city of the Persians ; who, forsaking Susa and Ecbatana 
and the ancient bulwarks of Cissia, departed on their way, 
some mounted on the steed, and some in ships, and some 
in the slow ranks of infantry, supplying the thick array of 

(1) The scene is laid in Susa, which, after the conquests of Cyrus, 
became famous for its wealth and splendour. Aristagoras described its 
royal treasures in such glowing colours, that he nearly tempted Cleomenes 
to undertake the invasion of Persia ; and when the haughty capital yielded 
in a later day to the arms of Alexander, the gold and silver that rewarded 
his victory exceeded even the inflamed expectations of Grecian cupidity. 
See Herod. V. 49. and Diod. Sic. xvii. 6. 

(2) We agree with Brunck in separating 'Atria from its compound, and 
making it the nominative to (3ai{et. This construction is more natural 
than the one adopted by Blomfleld and Pauw, who refer back for the no- 
minative to %to?, and consider the intermediate clause to be parenthetical. 
Wellauer inclines to the same opinion ; but is so little satisfied with it, that 
he suspccto the passage to be corrupt. 

G 



82 ^SCHYLUS. 

war : such as Amistres, and Artaphrenes, and Megabazes, 
and Astaspes, leaders of the Persians, kings that own the 
sovereignty of the great king, rush to the war, the com- 
manders of a countless host, both those who quell by the 
bow and those who rein the steed, terrible in truth to 
behold, and desperate in the fight through their gallant 
glory of soul. And there is Artembares exulting in his 
war-horse, and Masistres, and the brave Imseus resistless 
with the bow, and Pharandaces urging onwards his 
steeds, and Sosthanes. And the great and widely- fer- 
tilizing Nile hath sent others — Susiscanes, Pegastagon of 
^Egyptian birth, and the mighty Arsames the ruler of 
sacred Memphis, and Ariomardus who bears the sway 
over ancient Thebes, and the dwellers in the marshes 1 , 
the skilful rowers of ships, and who are in numbers num- 
berless. And a crowd of luxurious Lydians 2 follow, who 
occupy throughout the wide continent the seats of their 
tribes, whom Mithragathes and Arcteus the brave, their 
princely leaders, and Sardis that shines with gold 3 , send 
forth mounted on many a chariot, in ranks of double and 
triple yokes, a spectacle terrific to behold. And they 
who dwell by the sacred 4 Tmolus are fixed in their purpose 
to impose on Greece the yoke of slavery, Mardon and 
Tharybis, anvils of the spear, and the Mysians armed with 
the javelin ; and Babylon the city of gold sends forth in 
one vast crowd her mingled tribes, both the mariners that 

(1) " Paludibus profecti, quae insula Chemmide notantur, atque in 
Sebennyticum Bolbitinum, falsumque Nili ostium, defluunt." — Muller. 

(2) The luxury and effeminacy of the Lydians became proverbial ; and 
though in early times they were a warlike people, we may learn from 
Herodotus (I. 94.) how greatly they had degenerated. 

(3) Sardis obtained its reputation for wealth from the famous treasures 
of Gyges and Croesus, its early kings. Schiitz, in his usual trifling way, 
supposes the epithet irokv-xpvo-oi to be used in reference to the particles of 
gold washed down from Tmolus by the river Pactolus, which flowed through 
the streets of the town. 

(4) Tmolus is probably thus designated from having been honoured by 
the birth of Bacchus, when he was released from his second gestation in the 
thigh of Jupiter. 



THE PERSIANS. 83 

embark in her ships, and warriors proud of the strength 
with which they draw the bow. And the bands that bear 
the sword follow from the whole of Asia, under the dread 
command of the king. Such a flower of her sons hath de- 
parted from the realm of Persia, for whom all the land of 
Asia that reared them laments in the excess of regret; 
and parents and wives, counting each day, tremble at the 
lengthening time. Already indeed the royal army, bear- 
ing destruction to cities, hath passed over to the opposite 
adjoining shores, having crossed by the raft with its 
fastenings of cables the Straits of Helle 1 , the daughter 
of Athamas, after having placed a way 2 compacted by 
many a nail as a yoke on the neck of the sea. And the 
impetuous Ruler of populous Asia leads in two divisions, 
against every land, his more than mortal bands, trusting 
to the marshals of his infantry, and by sea to his firm and 
valiant captains ; himself the peer of Gods, a hero whose 
lineage is derived from the seed of the golden shower 3 . 
But flashing from his eyes the dark glare of the bloody 
dragon, with many a warrior and many a mariner, and 
urging on the Syrian chariot, he leads his martial bands 
that subdue with the bow against men that are famed for 
the spear. And no one withstanding this mighty tide of 
men is of sufficient strength to exclude by firm bulwarks 
the resistless billows of the sea 4 : for the army of the Per- 
sians may not be encountered, and valiant is all the 

(1) The Hellespont derived its name from Helle, the daughter of 
Athamas king of Thebes, who, flying from the cruelties of her step- 
mother Ino, fell from the golden ram which Neptune had given her to 
assist her escape, and was drowned in the sea. 

(2) " Fama canit tumidum super sequora Xerxem 

Construxisse vias, multum cum pontibus ausus, 

Europamque Asise, Sestonque admovit Abydo : 

Incessitque fretum rapidi super Hellespont 

Non Eurum Zephyrumque timens." Lucan.II. 672. 

(3) The Persians claimed their descent and name from Perseus, the son 
of Danae. See Herod. VII. 6 1 . 

(4) "Fluctum enim totius Barbarise ferre urbs una non poterat." — 
Cic. ad Attic, vii. 4. 

c. 2 



84 iESCHYLUS. 

people 1 . But what mortal man shall escape the trea- 
cherous deceit of Heaven 2 ? who shall surmount it by the 
elastic step of an easy bound ? for courting him at first, as 
if with friendly intent, it decoys its victim into the thickest 
of the toils, whence it is impossible for man to escape by 
flight. For a fate from Heaven established of old and 
enjoined on the Persians to pursue such wars as lay waste 
towers, and the tumults in which the steed rejoices, and 
the destruction of cities. But they have taught themselves 
to look on the marine fields of the wide sea when tossed 
into foam by the gusts of the wind, trusting to cables of 
slender fabric, and to machines for transporting a people 3 . 
Therefore 4 my bosom, wrapt in gloom, is harrowed with 
fear, alas ! on account of this Persian army, lest the State 
shall learn that the mighty city of Susa is made deso- 
late of her sons, and the walls of Cissia; (the crowd of 
women shall utter in responsive strain, alas ! giving voice 
to this word ;) and lest rending shall fall on the robes of 
fine linen. For all the people, either urging the steed or 
marching over the plains, have departed, like a swarm of 
bees, along with the leader of the host, having passed the 
promontory of the sea common to either continent and 
united by the bridge. But the nuptial couches are filled 
with tears through regret of absent husbands; and each 
of the Persian dames, a prey to excessive grief on account 



(1) The Persians, as far as we have any accounts of them, appear to 
have been distinguished, in their earlier history, by great courage as well 
as success in arms. 

(2) Stanley considers this passage to refer to the vision which appeared 
to Xerxes in his sleep and encouraged him to undertake the expedition 
against Greece ; but it is more consonant to the spirit of the author to 
give a general interpretation to the reflections of the Chorus. 

(3) The Chorus are speaking indignantly of the innovations on "the 
wisdom of their ancestors ;" and we have therefore translated their words 
as if they had been used ironically, and not, according to Butler, as merely 
" an elegant periphrasis for ships." 

(4) "TaGra refer ad superiora SoXomtiv avaTav PeoC, et qua* sequuntur. 
Cum diii fuerimus felices, rerum vicissitudinem met no, et rqv <raivov<rav 
fuoipav refiii-mido. 1 '— P.wv. 



THE PERSIANS. 85 

of anxious longing for her beloved lord, having sent away 
the bold and warlike partner of her bed, is left in lonely 
misery. But come, ye Persians ! having taken our seats 
beneath this ancient roof 1 , let us employ prudent and well- 
pondered counsel, (for the occasion for it is come,) how 
haply fares Xerxes, the royal offspring of Darius, being of 
our own race by his hereditary name 2 , and whether the 
shaft from the bow-string hath prevailed, or the strength 
of the pointed lance hath triumphed in the fray. But 
cease ; for here comes the mother of the king, and my 
queen, a light equal to the eyes of the Gods : I fall before 
her ; and fitting it is that all should address her with the 
w T ords of salutation — O Queen, who art unrivalled amid the 
shapely dames of Persia ! hail thou aged mother of Xerxes 
and consort of Darius ! Thou didst share the bed of the 
God of the Persians ; and art too the mother of a God, 
unless its former fortune hath now forsaken our army. 

ATOSSA. 

For this reason I come, having left the gold-decked 
palace, and the common chamber where Darius and I 
reposed : and anxious care distracts my soul ; but I will 
relate to you a tale, being besides, my friends, of my 
own suggestion, by no means without fear 3 lest our great 

( 1 ) " The scene of this tragedy is at Susa, before the ancient structure 
appropriated to the Great Council of State, and near the tomb of Darius.' ' 

Potter. 

(2) " Sensum recte explicat Scholiastes : 6 Kara Trarepa <rvyyev>j<; fo^i 
tovt effrti/, 6 6k irpoyovoov idayevrj*;, causam enim affert Chorus,*cur de 
Xerxe sollicitus sit, quod ex ipsorum gente et patre rege sit natus, eaque 
tanquam epexegesis vocabulo &apeioyevr)<; apponitur." — Wellader. 

(3) " Nullus dubito quin sola preepositio cnro sit subaudienda. 'Att' 
enavrfjq ov<ra a8eifxauToq. Sed scopum loci vix satis assecuti sunt inter- 
pretes. Metuere se ait regina, ne vetus ilia felicitas exercitum deseru- 
erit, eaque de causa advenisse, ut /uvOov, somnium suum narret, quamvis et 
ipsa per se absque Mo somnio, haudquaquam sit timoris expers, &c. Nunc 
locum habes plane expeditum." — Butler. 

We scarcely agree with the concluding sentence ; for though we have 
adopted the same interpretation, we cannot help thinking it a little 
forced. The whole speech labours under a considerable degree of obscu- 
rity, and, even where the meaning may be discovered, is harsh, and devoid 
of elegance. 



86 .ESCHYLUS. 

wealth, having swept too rapidly along, should overturn 
with its foot the prosperity which Darius raised on high, 
not without the aid of some God. Therefore there is in 
my breast a double unutterable care, lest no one hold in 
honour a store of wealth unprotected by men, nor that 
light shines to those who are devoid of riches so far as 
their strength would justify. For our wealth at least is 
not to be despised, but I have fear concerning the eye of 
these possessions : for I deem the presence of its master 
the eye of the house. Therefore, since these things are so, 
be my counsellors in this case, ye aged pledges of Persia's 
faith ; for all good counsels for me reside in you. 

chorus. — Be well assured of this, O Queen of this land ! 
that you should not twice command either word to be 
spoken or deed to be done where our power was able to 
lead the way to completion ! : for you call on us who bear 
you friendly feeling to be your counsellors in these diffi- 
culties. 

atossa. — I have been ever haunted, indeed, with many 
visions by night from the time that my son, having prepared 
his forces, departed with intent to devastate the land of 
the lonians. But I have never yet beheld any vision so 
distinct as during last night ; and I will describe it to you. 
Two women in fair attire, the one clad in Persian robes 
and the other again in Doric, appeared to rise before my 
view, by far the most graceful in stature of all living of their 
sex, and faultless in beauty, and sisters of the same race. 
And they dwelt in their native countries, the one having 
obtained by lot the Grecian, and the other the Barbaric 2 

(1) It is strange that Blomfield should have been puzzled with this 
passage, in which, though the expressions are circumlocutory, the meaning 
is obvious. Wellauer translates it entirely to our satisfaction : " omnia, 
in quibus vis se mihi ducem prcebere vult." 

(2) The learned Germanus Valens Guellius has thus commented on 
this expression : " Desierat etiam apud Barbaros ipsa vox j3apj3apo<> in- 
vidiosa haberi : nimirum in Persis iEschyli passim Persa) Persarumque 
regina de sua regione loquentes j3ap(3apov<; et j3dpj3apov trrparbv et (3ap(3a- 
pov<; vrja<; usurpant." This is a complete begging of the question ; and its 

absurdity 



THE PERSIANS. 87 

land. These two, as it seemed to my eyes, created some 
quarrel with each other ; but my son, having perceived it, 
restrained them, and soothed them, and yokes them beneath 
his chariot, and places collars on their necks. And the 
one, when thus equipped, carried her head proudly, and 
kept her mouth obedient to the rein ; but the other kept 
struggling, and tears in pieces with her hands the harness 
of the chariot, and hurries it away by force unchecked by 
the curb, and breaks asunder the middle of the yoke. And 
my son falls, and his father Darius stands by expressing 
pity for his misfortune ; but when Xerxes sees him, he 
rends the robes around his person. And such appearances 
indeed, I affirm that I beheld during the night. But when 
I arose, and touched with my hands the fair flow of the 
fount, I took my stand beside the altar \ with the incense 
in my hand, wishing to offer the thick libation to the Gods 
the averters of ill, to whom these rites are due. But I 
behold an eagle flying towards the altar of Phcebus ; and 
I stood speechless, my friends, through terror ; and after- 
wards I spy a hawk pursuing on its track in rapid flight, 
and tearing: the head of the eagle with its talons : but he 
did nothing else than, cowering, lend his body to the 
wound. These sights are terrible to me at least to behold, 
and to you to hear of: for ye well know, that my son, if 
blessed with success, would become a man of marvellous 
fame ; but if his fortunes be bad, he is not accountable to 
the State ; and if but preserved 2 , he is still equally the 
monarch of these realms. 

absurdity is so manifest, that it is strange that Stanley should have quoted 
the remark with approbation, and stranger still that Butler should have 
followed him with the decisive note of Pauw before his eyes. This able 
critic sums up the matter in a very few words : " Bapj3apov aptum est in 
ore .flSschyli, sed ineptum in ore Atossse, id apertum : sic tamen im- 
prudens JSschylus etiam alibi." 

(1) "Hsec sunt ab Herodoto prorsus aliena, qui de Persarum sacris 
ritibus verba faciens, I. 132. Oure, inquit, fiv/jiovq troievvrai, ovre nrvp ava- 
Kalovcri, /ueWovre? Qveiv." — Stanley. 

(2) This agrees with the doctrine of Aristotle, that </>t/AaK>/, or the 
safety of the monarch's person, is the object of tyranny. 



88 ^SCHYLUS. 

chorus. — We do not wish, O mother, either too much 
to alarm you by our words, or to restore your confidence ; 
but approaching the Gods as a suppliant, implore them, 
if you have seen any thing disastrous, to grant that it may 
be averted, but that what is favourable may be brought to 
pass, to you and to your children, to the city and to all 
your friends. In the next place, it is your duty to pour 
forth libations to Earth and to the dead ; and in soothing 
manner make these requests to your husband Darius, 
whom you say that you saw in the night, that he send what 
is good for you and your son from beneath the earth 
to light, and that the contrary of what is good 1 , being 
chained beneath the earth, lie buried in darkness. These 
things, on the suggestion of my mind 2 , I have with kind 
feeling recommended to you ; and we judge concerning 
these circumstances that the Gods will in every respect 
make their issue favourable. 

atossa. — But you indeed, the first judge in these dreams, 
have, with friendly disposition at least, sanctioned this in- 
terpretation for my son and my house. May what is good 
then come to pass ! But when I have entered the palace, 
I will perform all these things, as you have prescribed, to 
the Gods and to the kindred shades beneath the earth. 
But I wish, O my friends, fully to learn this, in what part 
of the world they say that Athens is situated 3 . 

(1) The Chorus make use of this circumlocution in order to "avoid a 
word of evil omen. 

(2) " @v/txofjiavTi<; dicitur is qui insita mentis prudentia usus, non divino 
numine afflatus, futura prsedicit." — Schutz. 

(3) Nothing can be more absurd, than that Atossa for the first time 
should be making such inquiries ; and the clap-trap purpose for which 
they were introduced, has justly excited the censures of Pauw : " Hcec 
frigent, et iEschylus absque ullo judicio ingessit, ut Athenas suas cele- 
braret. An nunc demum hrec sciscitabatur regina ? An de Athenis nihil 
antea inaudiverat ? an animus perterritus, et ad deorum averruncorum 
aras applicitus, hsecce nuuc poterat volvere ? Vident omnes verum esse 
quod, dico : sed ineptuli erant omnes Athenienses, ubi de Athenis snis 
aliquid crocitare poterant. Hoc iEschylum excusat, si communis error 
excusare pos^it." 



THE PERSIANS. 89 

chorus. — Far in the west, where the royal sun goes down. 

atossa. — But did my son indeed desire to take this city ? 

chorus. — Yes ; for all Greece would thus have become 
subject to the king. 

atossa. — Is there at their command any so great a 
number of men in their armies ? 

chorus. — Even such an army as hath already been the 
cause of many calamities to the Medes. 

atossa. — And what other resources in addition to these ? 
Have they a sufficient store of wealth at home ? 

chorus. — A certain fountain of silver belongs to them, 
the treasure of the earth l . 

atossa. — Whether does the arrow of the bent bow 
display itself in their hands ? 

chorus. — By no means: theirs is the close-thrusting 
spear, and panoply protected by the shield. 

atossa. — But what leader commands, and sways as a 
master, the host ? 

chorus. — They are not called the slaves nor vassals of 
any mortal man. 

atossa. — How then can they abide the attack of invading 
foemen ? 

chorus. — Even so as to have destroyed the vast and 
goodly army of Darius. 

atossa. — You say what is frightful to the thoughts of 
the parents of their invaders. 

chorus. — But, as it appears to me, you shall quickly 
know the whole accurate account ; for the running of this 
man is obviously, to our perception, that of a Persian ; and 
he clearly bears the news of some event, either prosperous 
or disastrous to hear. 

MESSENGER. 

O ye cities of all the land of Asia ! O ye realms of Per- 
sia, and vast haven 2 of wealth! how, by one blow, hath 

(1) The silver mines at Laureium. 

(2) " Atju^v est portus, statio. Et forte regiam urbem intelligit, ubi 
maximi divitiarum thesauri congesti erant ; vel latius Persici regni opu- 
lentiam." — Butler. 



90 jESCHYLUS. 

your high happiness been laid low, and the flower of the 
Persians fallen and perished ! Ah me ! it is a misery to be 
the first messenger of ill : but still it is necessary to dis- 
close all their calamities to the Persians, for the whole 
army of Barbarians hath perished. 

chorus. — Alas ! alas ! for these sad, sad, wretched, and 
unwonted evils ! Give vent to your tears, O Persians ! 
hearing this tale of sorrow. 

messenger. — You may, since at least every thing there 
has gone to ruin ; and I, for one, beyond my hopes see the 
light of return. 

chorus. — This life, indeed, appears to have been pro- 
tracted too long to our aged years, to hear of this unex- 
pected calamity. 

messenger. — And I indeed, being present, and not hear- 
ing the account from others, can tell what evils were dealt 
out on the Persians. 

chorus. — Alas ! it was all in vain that the mangled 
weapons of every nation went forth from the land of Asia 
against a hostile land, the shores of Greece. 

messenger. — The strand of Salamis, and all the adjacent 
regions, are covered with the dead bodies of those who 
wretchedly perished. 

chorus. — Alas ! you tell of the bodies of our friends, 
tossed by the sea and steeped in its wave 1 , being borne in 
death along the double-shifting surface of the tide 2 . 

messenger. — For the bow was of no avail ; and all the 
host hath perished, overpowered by the attacks of the ships. 

chorus. — Shriek forth the sad cry of bitter woe for the 
wretched Persians ! since they have managed every thing 
with fatal ruin ; alas ! alas ! our army being destroyed. 

(1) "Post Tro\vj3a<f)?i non intelligendum sanguine, ut Schol. voluit, sed 
tindis." — Schutz. 

(2) Blomfield translates it, "on the ebbing and flowing surface of the 
sea;" which is undoubtedly the correct, though not quite the literal 
meaning. Stanley renders the same words, duplicibus tabulis navium 
confractarum ;" and Schutz has been so obliging as to keep him in coun- 
tenance in this absurdity. 



THE PERSIANS. 91 

messenger. — O name of Salamis, most hateful to hear ! 
Alas ! how I groan when I think upon Athens 1 

chorus. — Yes, Athens is hateful to her foes ; we have 
cause to remember how, in our fruitless attempts, they 
made many of the Persian women childless and widowed. 

atossa. — I, wretched, have long since been struck dumb 
and stupified by these ills : for this calamity is so exces- 
sive, that one may neither tell nor inquire into our losses. 
But still it is necessary that mortals should bear with mis- 
fortunes, when the Gods inflict them. Speak therefore, 
and disclose all our sufferings — yourself composed, however 
distressed at this affliction. Who is not dead ? And whom 
of the leaders of the people shall we lament, who, appointed 
to bear the ensigns of command, left at his death his 
bands without their chief * ? 

messenger. — Xerxes himself, indeed both lives, and 
beholds the light. 

atossa. — You have declared, indeed, a great light to 
my house, and the brightness of day after the deep gloom 
of night. 

messenger. — But Artembares, the leader of ten thou- 
sand horse, is dashed against the rugged shores of the 
Silenians; and Dedaces, the commander of a thousand, 
struck by the spear, leapt with light bound from the ship ; 
and Tenagon, the true-born and gallant chief of the Bactri- 
ans, has now his dwelling in the sea-beat island of Ajax. 
Lilaeus, and Arsames, and Argestes the third, being also 
overpowered beside the island abounding in doves 2 , 

(1) Atossa, though anxious for her sou, fears to inquire directly re- 
specting his fate. 

(2) " Salaminem insulam Veneris in tutela fuisse ex Homero disci- 
mus, Hymn. IX. 4.; unde probabile est columbas summa cura incolas 
enutrivisse, atque insulam iis abundasse : Veneri enim sacra hsec avis." — 
Stanley. Butler has argued against this notion at some length, and has 
shewn pretty clearly that the Salamis mentioned by Homer must have 
been the city of that name in the island of Cyprus. He then adds, in 
explanation of the epithet; "Asperam et saxosam fuisse insulam illam, 
arboribus consitam, ideoque columbarum nidis satis idoneam, in confesso 
est," 



92 AESCHYLUS. 

butted 1 its rocky shores; and Arcteus who dwelt near 
the fountains of Egyptian Nile, Adeues, Pheresseues the 
third, and Pharnuchus, all fell from the same ship. Ma- 
tallus of Chrysa, the leader of numbers, having fallen, the 
chief in command over thrice ten thousand black horse, 
bedewed in the sea the tawny hair of his thick and shaggy 
beard, changing its colour for the purple dye ; and Arabus 
the Magian, and Artames the Bactrian, transferring his 
abode to a rugged land, there perished. Amestris, and 
Amphistreus who wielded an impetuous spear, and Ario- 
mardus the brave ******** causing sorrow to 
Sardis, and Sesames the Mysian ; and Tharybis the leader 
of five times fifty ships, a Lyrnaean by birth and a warrior 
of beauteous form, lies in wretched death, the victim of no 
happy fortune; and Syennesis 2 , peerless in valour, the 
prince of the Cilicians, having with his single arm caused 
the greatest distress to the enemy, in glory expired. Of 
the fate of such chiefs I have now made mention ; but I 
tell but few of the many evils that are present. 

atossa. — Alas ! alas ! I hear these by far the greatest of 
ills, bringing disgrace to the Persians, and awakening 
shrill lamentations ! But tell me this, returning to your 
tale, how great was the number of the Grecian fleet, so 
that they dared to encounter the Persian host with the 
assault of the beaks of their ships ? 

messenger. — Be well assured, indeed, that in point of 
numbers the Barbarian fleet had the advantage ; for to the 
Greeks the whole number of their ships was but three 
hundred, and besides these there were ten of superior 
excellence ; but to Xerxes (for I know it) the number of 

(1) Cornibus petierunt terram duram : capitibus acti sunt in terrain et 
saxa. Comicum hoc, ut et xoAet pracedens, alterumque irtjSrjfxa kov^ov 
gk veux; a^Xaro. To nrpeirov non servat tragicus : nam nuntius lugens hie 
loquitur: pueri sentinnt, et revera nihil ridiculum magis."— Pauw. The 
passage which immediately follows, about the beard of Matallus, may justly 
come in for a share of this censure. 

(2) The common appellation of the Princes of Cilicia, used in like 
manner with the Labynetua of Babylon and the Pharaoh of Egypt. 



THE PERSIANS. 93 

those which he led was in truth a thousand, while those 
which surpassed in speed were two hundred and seven. 
Such is the account of them. Do we seem to you to have 
been inferior in point of numbers in this battle ? We 
were not ; but it was some God that thus destroyed the 
army, depressing the scales with no equipoise of fortune. 

atossa. — The Gods preserve the city of the Goddess 
Pallas ! ! But is, then, the city of Athens still unsacked ? 

messenger. — Yes ; for whilst her sons survive, her bul- 
warks are secure 2 . 

atossa. — But tell what was the beginning of the naval 
conflict. Who commenced the fight ? the Greeks ; or my 
son, elated by the number of his ships ? 

messenger. — A fiend, or evil spirit, that from some quar- 
ter appeared, began, O Queen, the whole of our evils. 
For a Greek 3 , coming from the army of the Athenians, 
gave this information to your son Xerxes ; That, when the 
clouds of dark night should descend, the Greeks would not 
remain, but, leaping on the benches of their ships, would 
in various directions seek to preserve their lives by secret 
flight. But he, the instant that he heard it, not being 
aware of the stratagem of the Greek 4 , nor that the Gods 
grudged his success, sets forth these commands to all the 
leaders of the fleet; That, when the sun should cease to 
illumine the earth with his rays, and darkness tenant the 
temple of the sky, they should draw up in three divisions 
the thick array of their ships, to guard the outlets and 
passes of the murmuring sea, and station others in a circle 
around the island of Ajax: since if the Greeks should 

(1) "Atossa, quae antea de Athenis omnia ignorabat, ut vidimus 
supra, hie probe scit eas Palladi esse sacras. Quid ais? hfec belle cohe- 
rent." — Pauw. 

(2) " Combusto oppido, non muris sed viris civitatem constare pulchre 
dicit." MuLLER. "AvBpeq yap xoAts, Kal ov reix^J, ov$e v^e? avdpoov xevai. 

Thucyd.\ll.77. 

(3) " Cui nomen Sicinus. Astutissimum hoc Themistoclis commentum 
memorat Herodotus, VIII. 76. et Diodorus Siculus, XI, p. 251." — Stanley. 

(4) "Calliditas Graia, atque astus pollentior armis." 

SU.Ital.xiv. 33 ;; i. 



94 AESCHYLUS. 

escape from fatal destruction, having discovered some 
secret means of flight with their ships, it was announced 
to all that they should be deprived of their heads. Such 
commands he gave, moved by the impetuous violence of 
his mind; for he weened not of the future how it was 
ordained by the Gods. But they, not in disorder, but 
with minds obedient to command, both prepared their 
evening meal 1 , and each mariner lashed his oar to the 
well-fitted oar-lock. And when the light of the sun had 
faded and night came on, each man lord 2 of the oar, and 
each who bore sway over arms, proceeded to his vessel ; 
and band kept cheering band in the ships of war, and they 
sail as each was appointed ; and through the whole night 
the commanders of the ships kept all their naval forces 
employed in sailing without intermission. And night ad- 
vanced, and the army of the Greeks did not at all attempt 
to sail forth by stealth in any quarter. But when Day, 
drawn by white steeds, had extended her empire over all 
the world, gladdening mortal sight with her beams, first 
indeed a loud strain from the Grecians bade hail in mea- 
sured chaunt to Echo, and Echo at the same time flung 
back from the rocks of the island the inspiring note : and 
terror filled all the Barbarians, deceived in their expecta- 
tions ; for the Greeks did not then awake the hymn of the 
sacred paean as for flight, but as hastening to the fight 
with gallant confidence of soul : and the trumpet, with 
its clangor, inflamed all their bands; and quickly, with 
the joint stroke of the dashing oar, they cleft the resound- 
ing surge, in measured time. In a short time their whole 

(1) "Persce semel tantum in die, idque ad coense tempus, cibum ca- 
pessebant. Hinc facetum Megacreontis dictum, cuju9 meminit Herodo- 
tus, VII. 120. Abderitas Deos postulare suasit ut dimidium futurorum 
malorum a se propulsaretur ; nam de pra^teritis magnam se gratiam illis 
habere, quod rex Xerxes non bis quotidie cibum capere consuesset : 
Tlapexeiv yap av 'AftdtjpiTtio-i, el kcu apia-rov irpoeipjjro op.oia r?o Senrvio irapa- 
VKevaQew, h /mrj invofxeveiv Eepfyjv eiriovra, t) Kara/meivavra^, KaKtara iravriov 
avOpwirow SiarpiftTJvai.'" — Stanley. 

(2) To de, w? 6 T>;Ae0o? IZvpnridou <j»](rl, kcottck; avatrareiv, kcu a-Tro/ia? e<V 
Mfcncrv, cnrpeTcs, on |iie?£ot' to avaa-aciv »/ kcxt a£iai\ — Arist. li/irt. III. J. 



THE PERSIANS. 95 

numbers were distinctly seen. The right wing, skilfully 
formed, first led the way in order ; and next came all the 
rest of the fleet after them, and we might at the same time 
hear them loudly shout: "O sons of the Greeks, on! and 
give freedom to the land of your fathers ! give freedom to 
your children, your wives, the temples of your country's 
Gods, and the tombs of your ancestors ! — the struggle is 
now for all !" And, in truth, the clamour of the Persian 
tongue went forth from us in answer ; and it was no longer 
the moment for delay ; but ship immediately dashed against 
ship its brazen prow. A Grecian ship first began the 
attack 1 , and it carries away the whole figure-head of a 
Phoenician ship ; and against another some other captain 
steered his vessel. At first, indeed, the torrent of the 
Persian forces made head against the attack ;^. but when 
their numerous ships were crowded together in the Straits, 
and no aid could be afforded to one another, they them- 
selves both shattered all the banks of their oars by the 
crash of their own brazen beaks, and the Grecian ships 
with no unskilful tactics bore down upon them, encom- 
passed in a circle : and the hulls of the ships were cap- 
sized, and the sea could no longer be discerned 2 , being 
covered with the wrecks of the ships and the slaughtered 
bodies of men ; and the shores and projecting rocks were 
crowded with our dead ; and every ship rowed away in 
disorderly flight, as many as belonged to the armament of 
the Barbarians. But the Greeks kept striking and hacking 
them, as men would tunnies or some draught of fishes* 
with the fragments of the oars and the splinters of the 
wrecks 3 : and at the same time, lamentation filled with loud 

(1) The claim to this honour was disputed by the iEginetse and the 
Athenians. iEschylus obviously favours the pretensions of his country- 
men : for he represents the attack to have been made on a ship of the 
Phoenicians, against whom, as we know from Herodotus, the Athenians 
were stationed in the fight. 

(2) " Vera constructio est, OaXacra-a ovkct ?/v coo-re rtva I8e?v eiceivrjv, mare 
non amplius existebat, quod ad visum atiinet, vel adeb ut quisquam id posset 
videre." — Heath. 

(3) " Quod autem dicit nuntius Graicos remorum fragmentis Persas 

hie 



96 ^SCHYLUS. 

shrieks the wide sea, till the eye of dark night 1 broke off 
the combat. But I could not fully unfold to you the mul- 
titude of our evils, not even though I should describe 
them in order for ten days : for be well assured of this, that 
never in one day did so great a number of men perish. 

atossa. — Alas ! alas ! a mighty sea of evils hath burst 
over the Persians and all the race of Barbarians ! 

messenger. — Be now well assured of this, that their 
calamities are not yet half told: such a fatal excess of 
suffering befell them, as even twice to counterbalance with 
its weight the evils you have heard. 

atossa. — But what misfortune could happen more dis- 
tressing than this ? Tell what calamity it was that you 
say again came on the host, verging to a heavier weight of 
sorrows. 

messenger. — Whoever of the Persians were in the 
prime of youthful vigour, and bravest of soul, and eminent 
for noble lineage, and ranked among the first in fidelity to 
the king, all these have foully perished by a most inglorious 
death. 

atossa. — O sad is my heart, ye friends, for this bitter 
loss ! But by what fate do you say that they were de- 
stroyed ? 

messenger. — There is a certain island 2 in view of the 
regions of Salamis, of small circumference and unsafe har- 
bourage, frequented by the dance-loving Pan and over- 
hanging the shore of the sea. Thither he sends this band, 
that when the enemy, having fallen overboard from their 
ships, might seek the island for safety, they might destroy 

hie illtc nantes tanquam thynnos trucidasse, id vel hodie moris est in 
Siculo mari, ut thynnos retibus inclusog remis ac fustibus feriendo 
interimant." — Butler. 

(l) "Corruptum hunc versum putat Blomf., quia neque noctis ocu- 
lus possit acpcupeicrOai n dici, neque intelligi possit, quid post acpeiXero sub- 
audiendum, quare hoc in cupiKero mutari vult. Sed vvktos opfjia. est, 
noctis tenebrce (v. Seidl. ad Eur. Iph. T. 110.) ewque pugnantibua et eju- 
lantibus eripuerunt aspectum eorum, qua; fiebant." — Wellauer. 

(2> Psyttaleia. See Herod. VIII. 95. 



THE PERSIANS. 97 

the forces of the Greeks, an easy prey, and rescue their 
friends from the channels of the sea ; miscalculating the 
chances of the future. For when the God had given the 
triumph of the naval combat to the Greeks, having on the 
same day secured their bodies with goodly brazen armour, 
they leaped from their ships, and encompassed all the island 
around, so that the Persians were at a loss whither they 
should turn for escape ; for dreadfully were they wounded 
by stones from the hand, and arrows from the bow-string 
falling on them destroyed them. At length their enemies, 
rushing on with one impulse, wound and hew in pieces the 
limbs of these wretched men, until they had utterly de- 
stroyed the life of all. But Xerxes loudly shrieked, seeing 
this excess of calamity 1 ; for he occupied a seat that com- 
manded a full view of all the army, on a lofty hill 2 near the 
depths of the sea. But he rends his robes, and wildly 
howls ; and having immediately issued the command to the 
land forces, he sends them on in disorderly flight. Such a 
calamity you have to lament, in addition to the former. 

atossa. — O hateful demon ! how hast thou deceived the 
Persians in their expectations ! But my son hath reaped a 
bitter vengeance from illustrious Athens; and the Bar- 
barians have not sufficed whom Marathon formerly de- 
stroyed 3 , for whose loss my son seeking to exact retribution 
has drawn on himself such a multitude of calamities. I But 
do you tell me where you have left the ships that escaped 
destruction : do you know, so as to signify it clearly ? 

messenger. — The leaders, I know, of the ships that were 
left, commenced a precipitate and disorderly flight before 



(1) We quote' as a specimen of nonsense the following note of Schiitz : 
" Kcikcov (3d6o<;, abyssum malorum, metaphora cum alias idonea, turn huic 
potissimum loca apta, quod Xerxes ex alto prselium spectabat." This is 
itself an example of the true bathos, the genuine art of sinking in criticism. 

(2) Xerxes viewed the battle of Salamis from the mountain iEgialus, on 
the opposite shore. 

(3) " Hinc proverbium, Mera rr)v MapaOwva yuaxVi post Marathonem prce- 
Uum, ubi quis post unam calamitatem in aliam rursus incidit." — Stanley. 

H 



98 .ESCHYLUS. 

the wind. But the rest of the army partly perished in the 
land of the Boeotians — some indeed, in the agonies of thirst, 
beside the sparkling waters of the fount, and some ex- 
hausted by want of breath — and partly we pass to the ter- 
ritories of the Phocians and the Doric land, and the Melian 
Gulf, where Sperchius waters the plain with his bounteous 
stream; and thence the soil of the Achaian 1 country, and 
the city of the Thessalians, received us, straitened for food v 
There a great many died from thirst and hunger ; for both 
these hardships assailed us. But we proceeded on, to the 
territory of the Magnesians, and the regions of Macedonia, 
to the river Axius, the marshy reeds of Lake Bolbe, the 
mountain of Pangaeus, and the Thracian land. But on this 
night the God caused an unseasonable 2 frost, and congeals 
all the waters of the sacred Strymon. Then he who for- 
merly disbelieved the existence of Gods implored them in 
prayer, paying worship to earth and heaven 3 . But after 
the army ceased from their many entreaties to the Gods, 
they proceeded to pass over the ice of the frozen stream ; 
and each of us, indeed, who set forward before the rays of 
the God were disseminated, is preserved. For the bright 
orb of the sun, blazing with all its beams, shot them into 
the middle of the stream, melting the ice with their heat ; 
but the men sunk one above another, and happy was he 
who first expired. But as many as survived and obtained 
safety, after passing through Thrace with difficulty and 
great toil, come, but a few in number, escaping to the 
land of their homes ; so that the city of the Persians may 
well groan, longing in vain for the dearest youth of the 
land. These tidings are true ; but I omit the mention of 
many calamities, which the God hath violently inflicted on 
the Persians. 

chorus. — O irresistible demon ! how very heavily hast 
thou leaped with thy feet on all the Persian race ! 

(1) ThePhthiotic Achaia. 

(2) The battle of Salamis was fought, on the 20th of September. 

(3) See the quaint quotation from Bishop Andrews, in the Appendix 
to Blomfield's Notes, p. 205. 



THE PERSIANS. 99 

atossa. — Alas ! how I grieve for the destruction of the 
army ! O manifest vision of the dreams of night, how too 
truly you revealed to me these evils ! And you very im- 
perfectly interpreted their meaning. But still, since your 
response has given me authority to act in this way, I wish 
indeed in the first place to pray to the Gods, and next 
I will come have taken from my house the clotted liba- 
tions, offerings to Earth and the dead. I know, indeed, that 
I shall do so for what is past relief, but I do it with the 
view that better fortune may accrue to us for the future. 
But it is your duty, in these circumstances, to confer with 
the faithful in faithful counsel ; and console my son, if he 
should come hither before me, and conduct him to the 
palace, lest calamity should be added to our present ca- 
lamities f . 

chorus. — O sovereign Jove, now indeed having de- 
stroyed the army of the highly-vaunting and numerous 
Persians, thou hast shrouded in the gloom of sorrow the 
cities of Susa and Ecbatana ! And many maids, rending 
their veils with tender hands, drench their bosoms with 
showers of tears, feeling their share of the grief. But the 
Persian dames, in excess of sorrow, longing to behold 
their late-wedded husbands, and the dalliance of the 
silken-covered couch, the delight of wanton youth, abandon- 
ing themselves to misery, lament with most insatiable wail. 
And I too, with good reason, feel heavy woe for the fate of 
the dead. Now, indeed, all the land of Asia, reft of its 
children, laments : for Xerxes led, O Gods ! and Xerxes 
destroyed them, alas ! and Xerxes pursued all his plans 
fatally, owing to the barks of the ocean. Why was not 
Darius, unerring leader of the bow, then at the head of 
his people, the prince so dear to Susa? The ships, all 
winged alike, and coloured with azure on their prows, bore 
away both the land and sea forces, O Gods ! and the ships 
destroyed them, alas ! the ships with the deadly assaults of 



(l) "Ne scil. sibi ipse Xerxes vitse pertsesus, violentas manus inferat." — 

Schotz. 

T! ?. 



100 AESCHYLUS. 

of their beaks. And the king himself has with difficulty 
escaped, as we hear, through the hands of the Ionians, and 
along the paths of the wintry Thracian plains. But they 
who perished in our first disaster, alas ! being left by ne- 
cessity, are dashed amid the waves, around the Cychrean 
shores. Groan, and gnash the teeth, and loudly raise to 
heaven the cry of sorrow, alas ! and vent the notes of dis- 
mal howling, the exclamations of the wretched. But dread- 
fully mangled by the sea, alas ! they are devoured, O woe 
and alas ! by the silent offspring of the stainless deep. 
And each house bewails the lord it has lost ; and the aged 
parents bereft of their children, lamenting these heaven- 
sent calamities, hear now the whole tale of sorrow. But 
they who dwell through the land of Asia will not in future 
long bear the Persian rule, nor pay tribute at the compul- 
sion of a master, nor, falling down to earth, submit to be 
ruled ; for the strength of the monarchy hath utterly pe- 
rished : nor is the tongue of mortals any longer under 
restraint, for the people hath been licensed to speak freely, 
since the yoke of our might hath been broken. And the 
sea-girt island of Ajax, stained as to its fields with blood, 
contains all that now remains of the Persians. 

atossa. — Whosoever, my friends, happens to be well- 
acquainted with misfortunes, knows that when a sea of 
trouble flows in upon mortals, one is wont to fear every 
thing: but when fortune glides smoothly, he trusts that 
the same influence will ever guide favourably the chances 
of his life. For to me already all things, indeed, are full of 
fear, and in my eyes the omens of heaven appear adverse, 
and there rings in my ears no soothing strain ; so great is 
the stupefaction of misery that dismays my soul. I have 
therefore again returned from the palace both without my 
chariot and former state, bearing to the father of my son 
those conciliatory libations that have a charm to soothe the 
dead l — both the white stream of sweet milk from the pure 

(l) " Hos ritus non ex more Persarum, sed Grjecorum, describit. 
A/^apr/;/ua, sed quo nihil poetis, Homerum non excipio, frequentius." — 

Stanley. 



THE PERSIANS. 101 

stores of the cow, and the liquid that the bee distils from 
the flower, the transparent honey, with libations of water 
from the virgin fount, and this beverage pure from its wild 
mother the sparkling juice of the ancient vine ; and here 
is the fragrant fruit of the pale-green olive that ever teems 
through its life with leaves *, and garland of flowers that 
drew their birth from the bosom of the fruitful earth. But, 
O my friends ! do ye awake a propitious strain over these 
libations to the dead, and summon 2 to light the divine 
Darius, whilst I pour on the thirsty earth these offerings in 
honour of the Infernal Gods. 

chorus. — O royal dame, revered by the Persians, do you 
send the libations beneath the chambers of the earth, and 
we in our strains will implore the conductors of the dead 
beneath the earth to be propitious. But, O ye sacred 
Powers of Hades, Earth and Hermes, and the monarch of 
the shades, send from below his soul to light ! for if he 
know any further affliction of misfortunes, he alone of 
mortals can tell their issue. Does then that blessed and 
godlike king hear me, as I send forth in clear barbaric 
tone the doleful and dismal sounds of every varied lamen- 
tation ? With the cry of bitter sorrow I will pierce the 
tomb. In the realms below hears he my voice ? But do 
you, O Earth, and other conductors of the dead, accord to 
my prayers that the illustrious shade may arise from your 
mansions, the God of the Persians, in Susa born; and 
restore to light him, whose equal the Persian earth hath 
never yet enshrouded ! O surely he was dear to us in life ! 
and dear is his tomb, for dear were the manners of him 
that it contains. But do thou, O Pluto, Pluto, permit 
Darius to return, Darius all kingly as he was ! For never 
did he destroy his people by the fatal calamities of war, 
and he was called by the Persians a God in counsel ; and a 
God in counsel he was, since he ever directed our armies 

(1) " Baccaque cum ramis semper frondentis olivse." 

Ovid. Met. VIII. 295. 

(2) The art of magical incantation was probably derived by the Persians 
from the conquered Chaldeans. 



102 .ESCHYLUS. 

aright. O king ! our ancient king ! hasten, come, appear 
on the highest summit of the sepulchral mound, raising the 
saffron sandal of thy foot, and, giving to light the crest of 
thy royal tiara! Passing from the shades, O blameless 
Darius, arise to rejoice us ! Appear, O monarch ! that you 
may hear the unwonted and new calamities of our mon- 
arch. For a certain Stygian gloom hovers over us ; for 
our youth have fallen to rise no more. Passing from the 
shades, O blameless Darius, arise to rejoice us ! Alas, and 
alas ! O thou that diedst to the deep grief of thy friends ! 
O Potentate, O Potentate ! why should these accumulated 
ills have their share of action throughout all this thy 
land? The ships with their triple bank of oars have 
utterly perished, the ships whose last fight now is fought. 

GHOST OF DARIUS. 

O faithful among the faithful, and contemporaries of my 
youth, ye aged Persians! with what affliction is the city 
distressed ? Prostrate on the plain, it groans, and is beaten 
and lacerated in the violence of its grief. But seeing here 
my consort beside the tomb, I am alarmed ; (but I have re- 
ceived the conciliatory libations ! ;) and you, too, standing 
near the sepulchre, and loudly raising the dirges that 
evoke the dead, sadly summon me to appear. But it is 
not easy to get out, both for other reasons and because the 
Gods below the earth are better at holding fast than 
letting go 2 . Yet I, from being of power 3 among them, am 
here. But make haste, that I may not be blamed for de- 
lay. What is the new calamity that has fallen heavily on 
the Persians ? 

(1) We cannot help thinking, with Schiitz, that the reading here 
ought to be irpevfxevfjq. 

(2) " facilis descensus Averni : 

Noctes atque dies patet atri janua Ditis ; 

Sed revocare gradum, superasque evadere ad auras, 

Hoc opus, hie labor est." Vwg. Mn. VI. 126. 

(3) " Veterum opinio erat reges qui virtute et factis excelluerant, apud 
inferos magna in dignitate esse, imperiumque in mortuorum simulachra seu 
animas exercere." — Brunck. 



THE PERSIANS. 103 

chorus. — I fear, indeed, to look on you, and I fear to 
speak to you, on account of my ancient awe of your 
presence. 

darius. — But since I am come from below in compli- 
ance with your mournful request, do not in any tedious 
tale, but in a few words, declare and relate all, laying 
aside your awe of me. 

chorus. — I fear, indeed, to grant what you ask ; and I 
fear to speak in your presence, telling what is harsh for 
friends to hear. 

darius. — But since this ancient fear obstructs " your 
thoughts, do you, O aged partner of my bed, dame of a 
noble lineage ! having ceased from these tears and lamen- 
tations, declare to me some clear intelligence. Human 
calamities may in truth be expected to befall men; for 
many evils arise to mortals from the sea, and many from 
the land, if their more lengthened life shall extend to a 
protracted date. 

atossa. — O thou, who didst transcend in the prosperity 
of thy fortunes the happy estate of all mortals, and who in 
envied glory, whilst thou didst behold the rays of the sun, 
leddest, like a God, a life of unbroken felicity among the 
Persians ! how enviable do I now account thee, having died 
before thou sawest our profound calamities 1 ! For, O 
Darius ! thou shall quickly hear the whole tale : in one 
word, the fortunes of the Persians are ruined for ever ! 

darius. — In what way ? Has the fury of the pestilence, 
or has sedition, visited the State ? 

atossa. — By no means; but our whole army has been 
utterly destroyed at Athens. 

darius. — But tell me which of my sons led the forces 
thither. 

atossa. — The impetuous Xerxes, having drained of its 
population the whole extent of the continent. 

darius. — Was it with land or naval powers that the 
wretched man made this insane attempt ? 

(l) " Felix morte tua, neque in hunc servata dolorem." 

Virg. Mn. XL 158. 



104 tESCHYLUS. 

atossa. — With both. Two armaments displayed their 
fronts, beneath two different leaders. 

darius. — But how could so great a land force be able to 
cross the seas ? 

atossa. — He formed, by the aid of machines, a bridge 
across the Straits of Helle, so as to have the means of 
crossing. 

darius. — And did he effect this, so as to confine the 
mighty waters of the Bosphorus ? 

atossa. — Even so ; but some demon abetted his in- 
tention. 

darius. — Alas ! some mighty demon hath possessed him, 
so that his mind was infatuated. 

atossa. — We may therefore see what a fatal issue he 
hath brought to pass. 

darius. — And what are the sufferings they have under- 
gone, over which you thus lament ? 

atossa. — The defeat of the naval forces led to the 
destruction of the land army. 

darius. — But has all the people been thus entirely de- 
stroyed by the spear ? 

atossa. — So that, in consequence, the city of Susa groans 
for the loss of her sons. 

darius. — Alas, ye Gods, for the vain succour and defence 
of the army ! 

atossa. — And the people of the Bactrians has* perished 
in total destruction, nor is there even an old man left. 

darius. — O unhappy man ! what a host of youthful allies 
he has destroyed ! 

atossa. — And they say that Xerxes abandoned and de- 
serted, with only a few 

darius. — How, and where died ? Is there any safety ? 

atossa. — Gladly hastens to the bridge that unites the 
two continents. 

darius. — And has gained this continent in safety? Is 
this true ? 

atossa. — Yes. The clear account of his escape cannot 
be disputed: in it, at least, there is no doubt. 



THE PERSIANS. 105 

darius. — Alas ! a speedy accomplishment of the oracles 
has come ; and Jove has heavily inflicted on my son the 
issue of his predicted decrees. But I trusted that the 
Gods would not bring them to pass till after a long time. 
But when any one of his own accord hastens to ruin, the 
God also joins in assisting him. A fountain of evils now 
appears to have been discovered for all my friends. But 
my son, through his ignorance and youthful audacity, has 
been the instrument of all this ill, who hoped to restrain 
with fetters 1 , like a slave, the sacred Hellespont, the tides 
of -the Bosphorus, streams of Oceans God, and changed 
the passage 2 over the strait, and, placing on it chains forged 
by the hammer, completed a wide path for his numerous 
bands, being a mortal; but he deemed, in his infatuation, 
that he should obtain the victory over Neptune and all the 
Gods 3 . Has not therefore some disease of the mind pos- 
sessed my son ? I fear lest the vast stores of wealth which 
I laboured to acquire shall now become to men the prey of 
the first to seize them. 

atossa. — The impetuous Xerxes receives these impres- 
sions from holding intercourse with false counsellors 4 ; for 
they tell him that you indeed acquired great riches for 
your children with the spear, but that he, from lack of 
valour, only wields the spear within his palace walls, and 
contributes nothing to the increase of the wealth that his 

(1) " AecrfidofAara non interpreter de vinculis, quse, rupto priore ponte» 
Xerxes furibundus in Hellespontum, et tanquam castigandi causa de- 
mitti jussit ; additis etiam, ut erat hominis insania, c c c. verberibus, 
(Herodot. VII. 35.) nam de ista filii petulantia nihil Darius ipse audiverat, 
verum universe de pontis Hellesponto injecti retinaculis." Schutz. — 
To these remarks, which are undoubtedly true, Blomfield has still 
more acutely added, that this idle story about Xerxes very probably 
arose from the perversion of some such expressions as are here made use 
of by the poet. 

(2) " Naturam trajectus mutavit. Audacter, sed spiritu vere iEschyleo 
interpres Dutheilus, // a denature les eaux^ — Butler. 

(3) Darius seems to forget that he once made a bridge of this very 
same kind himself. 

(4) Such as were Mardonius and Onomacritus. 



106 ^ISCHYLUS. 

father left. Hearing often such reproaches from base 
men, he has determined on this journey and expedition 
against Greece. 

darius. — Therefore by them has a deed been wrought 
of heaviest affliction, and "never to be forgotten ; such as has 
not yet made desolate by its visitation this city of Susa, 
from the time at least that sovereign Jove bestowed this 
honour, that one man holding the sceptre of command 
should bear sway over Asia the land of flocks. For the 
first leader of the people was a Mede 1 ; and next his son 2 
completed the work which he had commenced, because 
wisdom directed the helm of his mind. But Cyrus, a man 
favoured by Heaven, having succeeded him the third 
monarch, established peace for all his friends; and he 
added to his empire the nations of the Lydians and the 
Phrygians, and subdued all Ionia by force of arms. For 
the God did not hate him, since his thoughts were well 
regulated. But a son of Cyrus 3 was the fourth who 
governed the people ; and Smerdis reigned the fifth, a dis- 
grace to this country and the ancient throne : but him the 
brave Artaphernes slew in his palace by stratagem 4 , aided 
by the friends who had undertaken this just work. And I 
both gained the lot which I desired, and led forth many 
expeditions with many a warlike band ; but I never brought 
so great a calamity on my country. But Xerxes, my son, 
being youthful, has youthful thoughts, and bears not in 
mind my injunctions. For be well and clearly assured of 
this, ye companions of my youth, that all of us who have 
borne this power shall not appear to have been the authors 
of so many evils. 

chorus. — What then, king Darius ? Whither do you aim 
the scope of your words ? How, after these misfortunes, 
may we, the Persian people, yet manage our affairs for 
the best ? 

darlus. — If you lead not again your arms against the 

(l) Astyages. (2) Cyaxares. (3) Cambyses. 

(4) See Herod. III. 70. 



THE PERSIANS. 107 

country of the Greeks, not even if the Persian army exceed 
them in numbers ; for the soil itself acts as an ally to them. 

chorus. — What mean you by these words ? and in what 
way does it aid them ? 

darius. — By slaying with famine those who come too 
numerously on their steeds to the war \ 

chorus. — But shall we undertake an expedition with 
more compact and chosen forces ? 

darius. — No ; for not even the army now remaining in 
the land of Greece shall obtain a safe return. 

chorus. — How sayest thou ? For shall not all the army 
of the Barbarians pass from Europe across the Straits of 
Helle? 

darius. — Few shall part where many meet 2 : if, looking 
to what has now been done, one may give any credence to 
the oracles of the Gods ; for they are not wont to be in part 
fulfilled, and in part to fail. And if these events have 
taken place, he leaves a chosen number of his army, per- 
suaded by empty hopes ; and they remain where Asopus 
waters the plain with his streams, spreading grateful fer- 
tility through the land of the Boeotians. There it awaits 
them to suffer the extremity of misery, in reward of their 
arrogance and impious pride, who, coming to the land of 
Greece, were not deterred by the sacrilege from making 
the images of the Gods their plunder, and consuming with 
fire their shrines 3 . Of the altars, too, no trace is left ; and 
low lie the sacred abodes of the Deities, uprooted from 
their foundations : therefore, having done evil deeds, they 
suffer no less in return ; and part they are about to suffer ; 

(1) Wellauer reads virepiroWoix;, which would be a decided improvement 
in the text. 

(2) Only 43,000 escaped. Herod. IX. 70. 

(3) In revenge, if we may believe Herodotus, for the Athenians having 
burnt the temple of Cybele in Sardis. Cicero, de Leg. II. 10, makes us 
acquainted with the motive which the Persians themselves professed : " Nee 
sequor Magos Persarum, quibus auctoribus Xerxes inflammasse templa 
Grsecise dicitur, quod parietibus includerent Deos, quibus omnia deberent 
esse patentia et libera." 



108 .ESCHYLUS. 

nor does yet the bottom of the cup of misery appear, but 
still its waters gush freely : for so great is the libation of 
reeking blood that in the land of the Platseans shall be 
shed by the Doric spear, and the heaps of the dead shall 
even in the third generation silently testify to the eyes of 
posterity that it becomes not man proudly to deem that 
he is more than mortal. For insolence bursting into 
flower brings forth as its fruit the ears of calamity, whence 
man reaps a harvest of saddest tears. Seeing that such 
are the rewards of these daring attempts, remember 
Athens ! and Greece ; nor let any one, despising his present 
fortune and eagerly desiring some other, let his great 
prosperity be wasted. Jove is the chastiser of pride that 
vaunts itself too highly, severe in the account which he 
exacts. Do ye, therefore, by your prudent admonitions, 
warn him devoid of wisdom to cease insulting the Gods 
with his audacious arrogance. But do you, O aged and 
beloved mother of Xerxes, having entered the palace and 
taken such apparel as is becoming, go forth to meet your 
son; for through grief at these calamities the rendings 
have utterly destroyed around his person the tissue of the 
embroidered garments. But do you mildly soothe him 
with your words ; for I know that he w T ill only submit to 
listen to you. And now I depart to the realms of darkness 
below the earth 2 . But do you, old men, indulge in joy, 
although in these unfortunate circumstances, imparting 
each day fresh pleasures to your souls ; since to the dead 
wealth is of no avail. 

chorus. — Assuredly I grieved as I heard of the many 
calamities of the Barbarians, both present and impending. 

(1) " Quo Darius monito quam egregie Attici hominis adumbrabat ter- 
rorem, tam pariim sapienter suam ipsius stultitiam in memoriam revoca- 
bat Atheniensibus, quos contra ille diceretur Sardis ab iis captas nuntio 
allato ita animo exacerbatus esse, ut ne qua ipsum ultionis caperet obli- 
vio, apposita quaque coena ter sibi a servo quodam dictitari juberet ; 
de<nroTa fxefxveo rcov 'AOgvcucov." — SlEBELlS. 

(2) " Discedam. explebo numerum, reddarque tenebris." 

Virg, .En. VI. -34.V 



THE PERSIANS. 109 

atossa. — O fortune ! how many bitter sorrows pierce my 
heart! but chiefly this calamity pains me, hearing of the 
dishonour of the robes 1 around the person of my son with 
which he is enveloped. But I go; and having taken a 
garment from the palace, I will attempt to meet my son ; 
for we will not in their misfortunes betray those that are 
dearest to us 2 . 

chorus. — O ye Gods ! we surely enjoyed a glorious and 
happy life, under civic rule, when the aged and godlike 
Darius, a monarch powerful, blameless of ill, and invincible 
in battle, held the sceptre of the land. In the first place, 
indeed, we were distinguished for the renown of our arms, 
and the laws of our cities directed every action ; and 
return, when the war was past, led us, without hardship or 
suffering, in triumph to our homes. But how many cities 3 
did he take, without passing the channel of the river Halys, 
or impetuously departing afar from home ! such as are the 
maritime cities 4 by the Strymonian Sea, adjoining the 
dwellings of the Thracians ; and those without the iEgean, 
which, encircled along the shore with towers, were obedient 
to the mandates of this king ; and the subject States around 
the broad sea of Helle, and the gulphs of the Propontis 5 
and the mouth of the Euxine. And his were the sea-girt 

(1) " Atqui frigidum hoc, reginam de lacera veste tantum ingemiscere, 
nisi ei adderetur peculiaris infamia, quam, quee fuerit, optime monuit 
Brunck. Quern vide in notis Varr. Critt. ad v. 835." — Butler. 

(2) " Haec elocuta regina discedit, nee postea in scenam revertitur. 
Et callide quidem hoc instituit iEschyms; gratius enim populo Atheni- 
ensium futurum esse intelligebat, ut tragoedia in dolore Xerxis, quam in 
solatione finiretur." — Schutz. 

(3) " Hujus recensus causa quanquam repeti potest ab iEschyleo re- 
giones, fluvios, montes populosque numerandi singulari studio ac consue- 
tudine, hie tamen nescio an ira et invidia Greecorum animos in Medi inju- 
riam incendendi, eosque ad recuperandas illas terras infiammandi desi- 
derio ac cupiditate poetre fuerit consilium, quoniam non omnes omnium 
populorum terrse a Dario captee, sed illae imprimis, quas Greed incolebant, 
recensentur." — Siebelis. 

(4) " 'AxeA&uSe? non sunt Acheloides insulae, quas ignorant hoc loco 
Geographi, sed axe\m$e<; xo'Aet? dicuntur urbes maritimae, quia, ut recte 
monet Scholiastes, omne v§o>p \\xe\<oov appellabatur."— Schutz. 



110 .ESCHYLUS. 

islands that lie along the promontory of the sea beside this 
land ; such as, Lesbos, and Samos renowned for its olives, 
Chios, and Paros, Naxos, Myconus, and Andros lying 
closely adjoined to Tenos. And his power controlled the 
islands of the deep that are situated between the two con- 
tinents, Lemnos, and the seat of Icarus, and Rhodes, and 
Gnidus, and the cities of Cyprus, Paphos, and Solos, and 
Salamis, the parent city * of which is the cause of our pre- 
sent groans. He gained the command, too, by his pru- 
dence, of the wealthy and populous cities throughout the 
district of Ionia ; for there was present to his behest the 
unconquerable strength of mail-clad warriors, and of allies 
from every nation. But now we have, in no dubious way, 
to bear, by Heaven s decree, the reverse of these glories, 
being fatally quelled by the battle and by our disasters on 
the deep. 

XERXES. 

Ah ! wretched mortal that I am, having met with this 
hateful and most unexpected fate ! how cruelly has fortune 
assailed the race of the Persians ! Oh what shall I do in my 
miseries ? for the strength of my limbs grows faint as I 
look on these aged cities. Would to Jove, that, along with 
my soldiers who perished, the fate of death had also 
enshrouded me ! 

chorus. — Alas, O king, for the goodly army, and the 
high honour of Persia's rule, and the flower of her warriors, 
whom our evil fortune hath now laid low ! and the land 
laments her native youth, all slain by Xerxes, whose victims 
fill Hades. For the Agdabatse, the banded warriors of 
Persia and flower of the country, whose conquering weapon 
was the bow, (for vast were the numbers of the mingled 
host,) are all utterly destroyed. 

xerxes. — Alas and alas ! Alas and alas ! how fruitless 
was their prowess ! 

chorus. — And the land of Asia, O king of the country ! 
is grievously, grievously bowed to the dust. 

( 1 ) Salamis, and not Athens ; as Stanley and Schutz have, by some 
strange perversity, understood it. 



THE PERSIANS. Ill 

xerxes. — It is even I, O woe ! woe ! woe ! who in mi- 
sery and misfortune have proved such a bane to my race 
and the land of my fathers ! 

chorus. — As meet salutation of your return, I will utter 
the words of evil omen, the wailing ejaculation and loud 
lamenting notes of the Mariandynian mourner. 

xerxes. — Give voice to the tuneless strain that tells of 
sorrow and of gloom ; for now hath a reverse of fortune 
assailed me. 

chorus. — I will in truth utter the bitterest wailing, in 
horror at the severe disasters by sea which were suffered 
by the people of the race of this city; and will again 
loudly raise the melancholy dirge of the mourner. For the 
Mars of our naval strength, yielding the victory to others, 
reaped such mishaps from the Ionians, as he swept the 
darkling surface of the sea and that ill-fated shore. 

xerxes. — Alas ! alas ! alas ! Inquire, and learn all our 
loss. 

chorus. — Where, then, are the others of your many 
friends ? Where are the warriors that fought by your 
side ; such as, Pharandaces, Susas, Pelagon, Dotamas and 
Agdabatas, Psammis and Susiscanes who left the walls of 
Ecbatana ? 

xerxes. — I left them by the shores of Salamis, where 
they had fallen in death from a Tyrian ship, dashing 
against the rugged promontories. 

chorus. — Alas ! alas ! where is Pharnachus, and Ario- 
mardus the brave ? Where is the princely Seualces, and 
high-born Lilaeus ? where Memphis, Tharybis, and Masi- 
stras, Artembares, and Hystsechmas ? Their fate I again 
demand of you. 

xerxes. — Ah me ! having seen the ancient walls of 
hateful Athens, they all, wretched, overthrown at once, 
alas ! alas ! alas ! lie with quivering limbs on the earth. 

chorus. — Have you also left your most faithful eye, who 
numbered the Persians by tens of thousands, Alpistos 
the son of Batanochus, the son of Sesamas, the son of 



112 ^ESCH^LUS. 

Megabates, and Parthus, and the mighty Shares ? Alas ! 
alas, for their wretched fate ! You tell of ills that have 
befallen in the heaviest degree the illustrious Persians. 

xerxes. — You recall to my mind, in truth, the lamenta- 
tion due to my brave companions, as you speak of these 
worst of ills, hateful and never to be forgotten. My heart 
within my bosom keeps mourning and mourning for their 
loss. 

chorus. — And we have at least another to regret, 
Xanthus the leader of ten thousand Mardian warriors, 
and the gallant Anchares, and Disexis and Arsames the 
captains of the horse, Kigdatas, and Lythimnas, and 
Tolmus unwearied in fight. 

xerxes. — They were buried, they were there buried, 
not following behind us on biers conveyed in cars ! 

chorus. — For are they dead, who were the leaders of the 
army? 

xerxes. — They are dead, alas ! and ingloriously ! Ah ! 
ah ! alas ! alas ! 

chorus.— Alas ! alas ! ye Gods ! ye have brought on us 
an unexpected evil, surpassing all that Ate has looked on. 

xerxes. — We have at length, alas ! suffered severely 
by misfortune. 

chorus. — We have suffered, it is too plain ; ah ! new af- 
flictions, new afflictions, having unsuccessfully encountered 
the Ionian mariners. The race of the Persians is, in truth, 
fated to calamity. 

xerxes. — But how should not I, wretched, deeply feel 
the loss of so great an army ? 

chorus. — Why should you not? Are not the mighty 
of the Persians fallen ? 

xerxes.— Do you see this remnant of my robes ? 

chorus. — I see, I see. 

xerxes. — And this quiver 

chorus. — What is this that you say is saved P 

xerxes. — The repository of my arrows ? 

chorus. — But a little, from so much. 



THE PERSIANS. 113 

xerxes. — We are left destitute of allies. 

chorus. — The people of the Ionians tremble not at the 
spear. 

xerxes. — They are gallant men: but I have seen an 
unexpected calamity. 

chorus. — You mean the flight of the naval host. 

xerxes. — Yes ; and I rent my robes when this evil oc- 
curred. 

chorus. — Alas ! alas ! 

xerxes. — Aye, and even more than alas. 

chorus.— For it is double and triple. 

xerxes. — Sad to us, but joy to our enemies. 

chorus. — And our strength has been mutilated. 

xerxes. — I am destitute of my attendants. 

chorus — Owing to the disasters of your friends on the 
deep. 

xerxes. — Shed your tears, shed your tears, for our loss ; 
and return to the house. 

chorus. — Alas and alas ! alas and alas ! O woe, woe 1 

xerxes. — Utter now your cries in response to me. 

chorus. — An evil addition of evil on evil. 

xerxes. — Wail forth your strains in unison with mine. 

chorus. — Alas ! alas ! 

xerxes. — Grievous in truth is this calamity. 

chorus. — Alas ! I also deeply feel the sorrow. 

xerxes. — Dash, dash the blows on your breasts ; and for 
my sake awake your groans. 

chorus. — In my sorrow 1 shed the tear. 

xerxes. — Utter now your cries in response to me. 

ceiorus. — The care of this, O master, is present to me. 

xerxes. — Now loudly swell the notes of the dirge. 

chorus. — Alas ! alas ! 

xerxes. — But mournful blows shall again be mingled. 

chorus. — And blows accompanied with groans. 

xerxes.— And beat your breast, and utter at the same 
time the Mysian lament. 

chorus.— O sorrow ! sorrow ! sorrow ! 

i 



114 ^SCHYLUS. 

xerxes. — And rend, at my request, the white hairs of 
your beard. 

chorus. — Violently, violently, and with bitterest sorrow. 

xerxes. — And shrilly shriek. 

chorus. — All this will I do. 

xerxes. — And tear, by the force of your hands, the folds 
of your robes. 

chorus. — O sorrow ! sorrow ! sorrow ! 

xerxes. — And rend your locks, and utter your lamen- 
tations for the army. 

chorus. — Violently, violently, and with bitterest sorrow. 

xerxes. — And fill your eyes with tears. 

chorus. — Lo ! with tears they are bedewed. 

xerxes. — Utter now your cries in response to me. 

chorus. — Alas and alas ! alas and alas ! 

xerxes. — With the cries of sorrow move towards the 
house. 

chorus. — Alas ! how sadly resounds the Persian land 
with wailing. 

xerxes. — Alas ! and throughout the city. 

chorus. — Alas ! too truly is it so. 
- xerxes. — Continue your laments as ye slowly advance. 

chorus. — Alas ! how sadly resounds the Persian land 
with wailing ! O woe ! woe ! woe ! 

xerxes. — O woe for them that perished in the barks with 
their triple banks of oars ! 

chorus. — I will conduct you on your way with the dismal 
strains of lamentation. 



AGAMEMNON 



t 2 



PERSONS OF THE DRAMA 



AGAMEMNON. 

iEGISTHUS. 

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

CASSANDRA. 

HERALD. 

WATCHMAN. 

CHORUS OF ARGIVE ELDERS. 



AGAMEMNON. 



WATCHMAN. 

I implore of the Gods a release from these toils ; some 
solace of that annual watching, in which resting, like a dog, 
above the roofs of the Atridae, I have marked the assem- 
bly of the stars of night, and those bright potentates that 
bring winter and summer to mortals, shedding radiance 
through the sky ! And now I watch for the signal of the 
beacon, the ray of flame that conveys the intelligence from 
Troy, and tidings of its capture ; for thus commands the 
masculine 1 spirit of the queen, in expectation of the event. 
But when I occupy my couch disturbed throughout the 
night and steeped with dews, not visited by dreams, then 
fear instead of sleep takes its place beside me, so that 
I cannot securely seal my eyelids in repose : and when I 
think fit to sing or whistle, preparing this remedy of music 
as an antidote to sleep, then I lament with groans the cala- 
mity of this house, which is not, as of yore, directed in the 
most virtuous course. But now may a fortunate release 
from my toils arrive, the flame with its happy tidings 
having burst through the darkness ! O hail, thou beacon 
of night ! that heraldest with thy beams the light of day* 
and the commencement of many a dance in Argos through 
joy at this event. Io ! Io ! I clearly declare to the wife of 

(1) " Potter has very properly censured Stanley for his mistake in 
rendering av$pofiov\ov ' viro insidiantem ;' but has himself fallen into a 
greater error, in rendering it ' thinking of her lord. 1 The meaning very 
clearly is, as I have rendered it, ' a man in counsel, 1 4 a manly-minded 
woman.' 1 "— Symmons. 



118 AESCHYLUS. 

Agamemnon, that, rising from her couch with all speed, she 
raise on high in the palace the cry of joy that bids hail to 
this torch ; if in truth the city of Ilion has been taken, as 
this beacon shines to announce. I myself will lead the pre- 
lude of the dance : for I will lay it down that the affairs of 
my master have fallen out prosperously, this beacon-light 
having thrown thrice six for me. May it be mine, then, on 
the return of the king of this house, to support with this 
hand his friendly hand ! But as to the rest, I am silent : a 
strong restraint 1 has come on my tongue ; and the house 
itself, if it gained a voice, would tell its secrets most 
clearly : so that I willingly speak out to those who under- 
stand, and affect to forget to the ignorant. 

CHORUS. 

This full surely is the tenth year since the mighty ad- 
versary of Priam, the royal Menelaus and Agamemnon, 
delegated each by Jove to the honour of the throne and 
sceptre, the valiant pair of the sons of Atreus, led from 
this shore their martial powers, the armament of the 
Argives with its thousand ships 2 , venting from the mind 
in clamours the fiery spirit of battle ; like vultures, who, 
grieving for the removal of their young 3 , wheel in circles 

( 1 ) The ancient Greek coins were stamped with the image of an ox ; 
and hence the proverbial expression in the original, which will not admit 
of a literal translation. 

(2) " Rex ille regum, ductor Agamemnon ducum, 

Cujus sequutse mille vexillum rates." Sen. Agam. 39. 

(3) " Mourning apart, in deep untrodden glades :" 

" So I have rendered eKirarioiq aXyea-i, literally, ' mourning out of the 
paths,' ' mourning hi unfrequented and untrodden places,'' which appears 
more natural and poetical, as well as more correct, than the tortuous ex- 
planation of the Scholiast adopted by Heath, Dr. Blomfield, and Stanley. 
The Scholiast asserts that eKTrartot? is put for eKTraTitov, and that the epi- 
thet, though formally agreeing with aXyea-i, yet really applies to iraiScov. 
Admitting the hypallage, yet the word eKiraricov could not mean ' sublato- 
rumj as Stanley has rendered it ; whereas the sense I have given it is the 
natural and easy one." Symmons. We willingly admit the superior 
beauty of this interpretation ; but we conceive, at the same time, that it is 
too fanciful, and have therefore refrained from adopting it in our humbler 



AGAMEMNON. 119 

above their nests, swooping through the air with the oar- 
like strokes of their wings, and lamenting that they have 
lost in their callow breed the object of all their cares l . But 
some one on high, either Apollo, or Pan, or Jove, having 
heard the shrill- lamenting cry of the mourning birds, sends 
Erinnys on the transgressors, to exact late vengeance for 
these outcast young. And thus doth Almighty Jove, pro- 
tector of the host, send the sons of Atreus against Paris, 
preparing alike for the Greeks and the Trojans full many 
an exhausting struggle, when in the combat for the oft- 
wedded bride 2 the knee should be planted in the dust, and 

(l) In this passage we entirely concur with the elegant scholar to 
whom we have just referred ; and we have much pleasure in quoting in 
our defence the following note, which is written in the very hest spirit of 
criticism : — " The expression in this passage of ttovov 6praKix oiv oXeo-dvreq 
is absurdly understood, by Potter and others, as equivalent to the English 
phrase ' losing their pains,* which is refuted by the epithet de/jtvioTrjpt]. 
Ilovov 6pTaXix ccv m eans ' the young birds themselves, the tender object of the 
care of their parents,'' (so forcible and comprehensive is the Greek lan- 
guage, in the hands of a poet !) In short, it means, by a bold figure, what 
would be expressed in common Greek thus : oXeo-avreq rovq opraXixovq 
e(j> olq TreTrovtjKoreq eTev. Spenser, whether from imitation, or more pro- 
bably from poetical coincidence, elegantly uses the same figure, in speaking 
of a hind deprived of her young : 

' Right sorrowfully mourning her bereaved cares.' 
It is really mortifying to see a fine passage so ill used. Musgrave is the 
least delinquent, who would read yovov for ttovov, though that would be 
to take a plume from the poet : but one cannot help feeling angry with 
Stanley, Potter, and Dr. Blomfield, for rendering oXeo-avreq ttovov dpraXi- 
X»v defxvioTrjpi], ' losing their pains in guarding the beds of their young? 
instead of ' losing their unfledged and bed-reposing cares.'' What great 
poet, instead of positively and directly stating such a calamity, would 
state it thus by a circumlocution, and as it were by induction ? as if 
losing their pains was a loss to be considered, when they had lost their 
young themselves. What a style of writing ! Besides, Be/jiviorrjpT] does 
not mean guarding a bed, but keeping a bed, or lying in a bed, and is 
here applied to the young ones lying in their nest. And this is the very 
sense in which it is used in line 1424 of this play; and this is the very 
sense Hesychius gives the word, referring to this very passage." 

(2) Helen is so designated from having been carried off in the first 

instance by Theseus, married by Menelaus, and subsequently living as a 

wife with Paris and De'iphobus. The errors and misfortunes of her loves 

• - were 



120 .ESCHYLUS. 

the spear shivered in the onset of the fray. But'their 
fortunes remain where they now are ; and yet shall they 
be consummated according to the will of Destiny. For 
neither by wailing, nor by libations, nor by tears, shall 
you soothe the inflexible wrath of those sacred Powers 
that are un worshipped with flame 1 . But we, with these 
aged and unhonoured persons being left behind that war- 
like levy, remain at home, guiding by the aid of the staff a 
strength as feeble as infancy : for the youthful marrow 
gushing up within the breast is fraught with a vigour equal 
to that of age, and Mars dwells not in that region ; and 
extreme old age, when its foliage is already sere, advances 
on its path supported by three feet, and, in no respect more 
vigorous than childhood, flits about like a day-dream. 

But thou, O daughter of Tyndarus, our queen Clytem- 
nestra ! what event has occurred ? what news have reached 
you ? and what having heard, by what tidings moved, do 
you offer at the shrines these distributed gifts? The 
altars of all the Gods who preside over our city, both those 
above and those below, the Gods of the Heaven and the 
Gods of the Forum, are blazing with your oblations ; and 
here and there the flame of the torch streams upward to 
the heaven, being drugged with the soothing and un- 
adulterated influence of purest unguent, the clotted oil from 
the stores of the palace. Of all this, answer me that which 

were owing to the anger of Venus, who thus chose to punish Tyndarus 
for having omitted her rites on a day of solemn sacrifice. 

(l) Alluding to the Furies, whose rites were marked by this peculia- 
rity. Dr. Blomfield denies the fact, and of course the inference, but sug- 
gests an explanation which is by no means equally satisfactory. Wellauer 
takes it in a different sense, and seems satisfied that it means nothing 
more than a denunciation of general impiety ; or, as he has translated the 
expression, " ira ob desideratam sacrificiorum flammam" Mr. Symmons is 
contented with the common view of the passage, which he has thus ele- 
gantly translated : 

" For vain are tears and mortal cries, 
And the drink-off'rer's sacrifice, 
To soothe tir inexorable shrines 
Where the dim taper never shines." 



AGAMEMNON. 121 

is in your power and lawful for you to accord ; and prove 
to me the healer of this anxious care, which now is at one 
time indeed full of evil presage ; and at another, hope, in- 
spired by the sacrifice, blandly cheering me, repels that 
insatiate anxiety, the anguish of thought that corrodes the 
mind. 

I am inspired to sing of the rightful power of the 
Chiefs in command, that was met by omens on the way ; — 
for still from heaven doth my being inhale the persuasive 
charm of song, a power congenial to my age — how the 
impetuous eagle, the king of birds, sends the two "asso- 
ciate Princes of the Achseans, the harmonious leaders of 
the Grecian youth, with the spear and the avenging hand 
against the Trojan land ; having appeared to the kings of 
the ships, the one with black plumage, the other white 
behind, near the palace, in a conspicuous station on the 
spear-hand 1 , feeding on a hare, with the teeming brood 
of its womb, for ever marred of running another course. 
Sing the song of woe, the song of woe ; but may happier 
fortune prevail 2 ! 

The prudent Prophet of the host, seeing the two sons 
of Atreus with twin dispositions, recognised in them the 
warlike devourers of the hare, and the leaders of the sway ; 
and thus he spoke, interpreting the portent: — "In time, 
this expedition shall take the city of Priam ; and all the 
possessions of her towers that formerly enriched the people 

( 1 ) " Potter has been guilty of an omission, in not rendering this par- 
ticularity of description x e P°$ ^k SopvirdXrov, literally ' on the spear-hand,'' 
that is, ''the right;'' as we say, in English, ' the sword-arm.'' Dr. Blom- 
field observes, that Schneider was the first who pointed out this meaning, 
which is sufficiently plain of itself. Milton, Par. Lost. IV : 

' As flame they part, 

Half wheeling to the shield, half to the spear.' " 

Symmons. 

(2) " Quia portentum illud duarum aquilarum partim faustum, partim 
ob iram Dianse infaustum erat, precatur Chorus, ut lsetior pars vincat, ut 
bona tantum omina rata sint, mala verb irrita." Schutz. The song 
of woe alluded to by the Chorus is supposed to have been derived, as its 
name in the original indicates, from the lamentations of the Muse over 
her son Linus. 



122 iESCHYLUS. 

shall Fate lay waste with violence : only l let no vengeance 
from heaven scowl on the mighty curb that was forged of 
old, and is now embattled against Troy. For the chaste 
Diana is incensed against the house, and the winged hounds 
of the father, that sacrificed a wretched trembling animal 
along with its offspring before parturition ; and she abhors 
the banquet of the eagles. Sing the song of woe, the song 
of woe ; but may happier fortune prevail ! 

So kind is she, the beauteous Goddess, to the helpless 
young of the impetuous lions, and to the unweaned whelps 
of all the beasts that roam the wild. But pray that she 
may fulfil acceptable signs of these omens : for their ap- 
pearances, though propitious, are not free from fault. I 
pray to the Ieian and Psean Apollo, that she may not 
awake any adverse blasts, long detaining the ships of the 
Greeks from sailing, eager to obtain another sacrifice, a 
forbidden sacrifice, ungladdened by the banquet, the cause 
of kindred discord, and unchecked by regard for human 
life: for there remains in his house a fearful and trea- 
cherous guardian 2 oft reverting to the deed, a mother's 
unforgetting wrath demanding retribution for her child. 
Such decrees of Fate, along with great blessings, did 
Calchas declare for the royal house, in consequence of the 
auguries that met them on the way. And now, in unison 
with these, sing the song of woe, the song of woe ; but 
may happier fortune prevail ! 

Jove ! whosoever he be, if this name be dear to him 
invoked by it, by such do I appeal to him 3 ! Weighing 

(1) We have no hesitation in adopting olov as the correct reading; 
since it is not only sanctioned by the authority of Porson, Pauw, and 
Hermann, but is obviously and naturally required to make sense of the 
passage. 

(2) Clytemnestra, who afterwards justifies the murder of Agamemnon 
on the plea that she was entitled to a mother's revenge for the sacrifice 
of Aulis. Wellauer gives a wider interpretation to the sense of the pas- 
sage : " Non de sola. Clytemnestra) ira sermo esse videtur, sed respici 
simul ad priores Pelopidarum ceedes, ut sensus sit : manet semper denud 
resurgens ird liberorum ultrix. n 

(3) "For the clearer understanding this passage by the English reader, 

it 



AGAMEMNON. 123 

every thing, I have not wherewithal to conjecture, except 
Jove, if I may truly cast away from my mind this vain 
burden of anxious care. For of him who in elder time 
was mighty, teeming with confidence that feared no foe, 
you would say that he was nothing, being a God whose 
reign is past; and he who arose to succeed him, having 
met with a conqueror, hath departed from the sky. But 
that man who with willing heart shall raise the hymn of 
victory in praise of Jove shall in the fullest degree be en- 
dowed with understanding Jove, who hath led man- 
kind into the way of wisdom, who hath placed in suffering 
the germ of instruction. Even in sleep the anguish of 
remembered guilt instils itself on the heart, and wisdom 
hath come to man despite his inclination. For the re- 
verence due to the Deities who sit on their hallowed 
thrones is forced on the world. 

And then the elder leader of the Achaean fleet found 
fault with no prophet, but conspired with the misfortunes 
that assailed him, at the time when the Grecian host was 
distressed by a delay that exhausted their stores, being 
stationed on the shores opposite to Chalcis in the re- 
gions of Aulis washed by the refluent tides ; and when 
breezes, coming from the Strymon fraught with evil de- 
lay, causing famine and danger to their station, making 
the crews to wander, destroying the ships and the 
cables, and forcing them to spend a length of time on 

it is merely necessary to observe, that the ancients, in their solemn invo- 
cations to their Gods, were extremely superstitious, and fearful of giving 
offence by using wrong names or misapplying their titles. The Chorus 
here is invoking Jupiter, now the supreme power, Uranus and Saturn 
being dispossessed. This is the plain sense of the passage, as the Scholiast, 
Dr. Blomfield, and I understand it ; and Potter, making it, as he calls it, 
' a general reflection,' has wandered wide into the fields of English pindaricks. 
But I ought to remark, that the line I have rendered 

' All arm'd with giant confidence elate,' 
is a poor substitute for the original, Tra^a^o) dpdcrei (3pvcov, which presents 
the magnificent, but to us incongruous, image of a giant all steeled for 
battle, and bearing his boldness like a tree bearing its blossoms." — 

Svmmons. 



124 AESCHYLUS. 

their way, kept wasting the flower of the Argives. But 
when the Prophet declared to . the Chiefs another re- 
medy even more grievous than the bitter tempest, alleging 
Diana's wrath as its cause, the sons of Atreus, dashing their 
sceptres on the ground, could not restrain the tear: and 
thus the elder king exclaimed and said : — " Severe is the 
doom to disobey ; and severe if I shall slay my child, the 
idol of my house, staining a father's hands beside the altar 
with the streams of her virgin blood. Which of these 
alternatives is without evil ? How shall I forsake the cause 
of the fleet, and prove untrue to my confederates ? For it 
is lawful for them to wish with the most passionate desire 
for a sacrifice to still the winds, and for the blood of the 
virgin ; since the issue would be well." 

But when he had submitted to the yoke of necessity 1 , 
breathing an impious, unholy, and polluted change of pur- 
pose, then he renounced wisdom for utter audacity. For the 
wretched delirium arising from first transgression, suggest- 
ing thoughts of ill, emboldens man to sin. He had the heart, 
then, to become the sacrificer of his daughter, that she might 
be the aid of a war that sought vengeance for a woman, 
and the first offering for the fleet ; and the Chiefs, thirsting 
for the fight, did nought regard her prayers and her 
calling on her father s name and her virgin life. When 
the ritual prayer was finished, her father bade the ministers 
of sacrifice seize with all alacrity her prostrate body infolded 
in her robes, and lay her, like some young fawn, above the 
altar, keeping watch on the lips of her beauteous face, that 
they might restrain any words of imprecation on the house 
by violence and by the stifling power of bands. But letting 

( 1 ) " Mira est in hac Stropha turn sententiarum turn dictionum sub- 
limitas. Agamemnon audaci metaphora loro necessitatis adductus dicitur ; 
mox vero fervens poeta ad audaciorem transit, ippevbs rpoiraiav scilicet, 
deinde humanse mentis conditio, quse ut in scelera proclivis sit, ubi semel 
impetum acceperit facile preeceps mat, describitur, quam breviter, sed 
quam gravissime. Ferocitas verb ducum ad bellum ardentium, et vir- 
ginis preces patris invocantis aspernantium, et nrap ovBcv 0e^uei/«v, ita vel 
hac una imagine depingitur, ut nihil ad rem ipsam declarandam, vel ad 
affect us commovendos pnvclarius cogitari possit.""' — Butler. 



AGAMEMNON. 125 

flow to the ground the folds of her saffron veil, she thrilled 
each of her sacrificers with the melting beams of pity from 
her eyes, and looked, as though in a picture, wishing to 
speak : since oft in the hospitable halls of her sire she had 
sung, and in her virgin estate had with chaste voice affec- 
tionately honoured the life of her beloved father worthy of 
the third libation and blessed with happy fate *. What 
followed I saw not, nor tell ; but the arts of Calchas are not 
without completion. Justice makes knowledge come to 
man by suffering. But as to the future, since there may be 
no escape, let the thought of it be far from us : for that 
were the same as lamenting calamity before it came ; and 
the future will clearly arrive, in accordance with these 
predictions. May good fortune then result in the coming 
hour ! as pray we, the nearest and sole support of the 
Apian land. 

I come, Clytemnestra, reverencing your power ; for it is 
right to honour the wife of a ruling Chief, when the throne 
is deprived of the male. If having heard some good intel- 
ligence, or if not, you only sacrifice on the hopes of happy 
tidings, I would fain know : but if you be silent, I am not 
displeased. 

(l) The reader will do well to compare with this beautiful passage the 
rival description of the same scene in Lucretius I. 83. For his further 
gratification, we take the liberty of making the following extract from the 
version of Mr. Symmons : — 

*' Now as she stood, and her descending veil, 
Let down in clouds of saffron, touclfd the ground, 
The priests, and all the sacrificers round, 
All felt the melting beams that came 
With softest pity wing'd, shot from her lovely eyes. 
Like some imagined pictured maid she stood, 
So beauteous look'd she, seeming as she would 
Speak, yet still mute : though oft her father's halls 
Magnificent among, 
She, now so mute, had sung 
Full many a lovely air, 
In maiden beauty, fresh and fair, 
And with the warbled music of her voice 
Made all his joyous bowers still more rejoice.'" 



126 AESCHYLUS. 

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

Bearing glad tidings, as runs the proverb, may the 
Morning be ushered from its mother Night! But you 
shall learn a joy beyond what you expected to hear : for 
the Argives have taken the city of Priam. 

chorus. — How say you ? Your words have escaped me, 
in consequence of my disbelief. 

clytem. — I say that Troy is in the possession of the 
Achseans. Do I now speak clearly ? 

chorus. — Joy steals over all my senses, calling forth the 
tear. 

clytem. — Your eye gives token of your friendly sen- 
timents. 

chorus. — But have you any certain proof of the tidings 
which you relate ? 

clytem. — I have : and why not ? if the God hath not 
deceived me. 

chorus. — Is it that you pay regard to the specious visions 
of dreams ? 

clytem. — No : for I would not admit the fancies of the 
soul when steeped in slumber. 

chorus. — Has some sudden rumour, then, been the cause 
of your joy ? 

clytem. — You scorn my judgment, like that of some 
young girl. 

chorus. — But how long is it since the city has been 
sacked ? 

clytem. — I tell thee, that it was during the night that 
gave birth to this dawn. 

chorus. — And what messenger could come with such 
speed ? ^ 

clytem. — Twas Vulcan, pouring forth from Ida the 
splendour of his beams ; and beacon hither sent on 
beacon kindled from the courier flame. Ida first trans- 
mitted the light to the Hermsean steeps of Lemnos : and 
Athos, the mountain of Jove, next received the mighty 
torch from the island; and the flame of the pine rising joy- 
ously on high, so that the strong reflection of that speeding 



AGAMEMNON. 127 

lamp was flung along the ridges of the waves, heralded 
like the sun the flashings of its golden blaze to the watch- 
man of Macistus. And he, not delaying his duty, nor care- 
lessly overcome by sleep, passed on the entrusted message ; 
and the light of the beacon, piercing afar to the streams of 
the Euripus, signifies its approach to the watchmen of 
Messapius ; and they answered the signal of the flame, and 
communicated it onward by lighting up a heap of withered 
heath. And the glare of the torch brightening and in no 
wise dimned, having danced like the glittering moon-beams 
across the plain of Asopus to the cliffs of Cithaeron, awoke 
in succession another beacon, to waft its tidings onward. 
Nor did the watch disown the far-sprung light, but kindled 
a greater blaze than any of the former. The light thence 
darted beyond the lake Gorgopis ; and coming to the moun- 
tain of ^Egiplancton, urged its watchmen not to neglect the 
regular succession of the fire. They kindling into resistless 
fury the streaming beard of fire, sent it flaming on, so as to 
tower beyond the promontory that looks down on the Sa- 
ronic Gulf: thence it flung its light, till it came to the 
Arachnaean steeps, our neighbouring watch-tower: and 
last, it bursts on these roofs of the sons of Atreus, a light 
that claims a genuine origin from the Idaean fire. Such 
has been the succession of these speeders of the torch, each 
from each in turn receiving it ; and the last and the first in 
the course are the best. Such a proof and such tokens do 
I declare to you, my husband having transmitted to me the 
tidings from Troy ! . 

chorus. — I will pray hereafter, O queen, to the Gods: 
but I would gladly again hear at length, and wonder at the 
tale you tell. 

(1) " Quod si fabulosse sint faces istse Agamemnonise quas iEschylus 
memorat Clytemnestrse fuisse nuntias Trqjse captae, a. Troja Mycenas 
usque, saltern certum est veras esse potuisse ; cum faces in Ida accensse 
facile possint videri ab iis qui in summo Athone versantur, ac quivis nun- 
tius similiter per faces traduces ex uno monte in alium ad remotissima 
etiam loca momento pene possit propagari." — Isaac. Voss. ad Melam. 1.2. 
p. 11<). 



128 AESCHYLUS. 

clytem. — This very day the Greeks are in posses- 
sion of Troy. Through her streets, methinks, there reign 
no harmonious sounds. Pour the oil and the vinegar 
into the same vase, and you will say they are at variance 
and unwilling to unite. Thus you may hear apart the 
voices of the captives and the conquerors, on account of 
their different fortunes. These indeed, having fallen on 
the bodies of husbands and brothers, and children clinging 
to their aged parents, shall no longer with unenthralled 
necks lament the fate of their dearest kindred. But the 
toil of the restless night places their conquerors beside the 
banquet, to satiate their hunger, now the battle is past, on 
all the city affords, according to no certain order of distri- 
bution in turn, but as each has drawn the lot of fortune. 
In the subject abodes of the Trojans they now dwell secure 
from the dews and frosts of the inclement sky, and, like the 
favoured of fortune 1 , shall sleep through the whole un- 
guarded night. And if they duly reverence the Gods who 
preside over the city of the conquered land 2 , they shall not, 
after having been the spoilers, become in turn the prey. 
But let no passion first seize the army, to desire, through 
the persuasion of gain, that which is forbidden. For they 
have yet again to trace the other side of the double stadium, 
so as to obtain a safe return to their homes: and even 

(1) The common reading is cW&wjuoves, which Mr. Symmons has 
adopted and translated, 

" like careless poor men tired, 

Sleep through the watches of th ' unguarded night." 

(2) "It was observed, in the preface to this tragedy, that the character 
of Clytemnestra is that of a high-spirited, close, determined, dangerous 
woman : this character now begins to unfold itself. She had with deep 
premeditation planned the murder of her husband : he was now returning : 
her soul of course must at this time be full of her horrid design, and all 
her thoughts intent upon the'execution of it : we have in the remaining part 
of this speech a strong proof of this ; she is dark, sententious, and even re- 
ligious ; so the Chorus understands her words, and so she intends they should ; 
but the very expressions by which she wishes to conceal, and does conceal, 
her purpose from the Argive senators, by hcing ambiguous, and compre- 
hending a double meaning, so far mark the working of her mind, as to give 
us a hint of what is revolving there.'' — Potter. 



AGAMEMNON. 129 

should the army come without erring in its course, r and no 
fresh deeds of ill be done, still the blood of the slain might 
not be forgotten by the Gods. Such sentiments you may 
hear from me, a woman ; but may our better fortunes pre- 
vail, and so that the balance may not seem dubiously 
poised ! for I would wish to be blessed with the enjoyment 
of many goods *. 

chorus. — O queen, your words display a prudence like 
that of a wise man : but I, having heard from you these 
undoubted proofs, prepare myself duly to address the 
Gods ; for the grateful toils that have been aXchieved are 
not undeserving of honour. — O royal Jove ! and friendly 
night, disposer of great glories, who over the towers of 
Troy didst fling the enclosing toils, so that neither could 
strength nor youth avail to bound over the mighty ^rag- 
net of slavery, a visitation that swept them all ! I humbly 
adore the mighty Jove, protector of the host, the God that 
hath wrought this deed, who long since bent his bow 
against Paris, so that neither before its hour, nor yet in vain 
flight beyond the stars, he might discharge the bolt. They 
have not escaped the weapon of Jove : this we may safely 
assert, and clearly trace in the event : His hand hath 
wrought what his will decreed. Some one denied that the 
Gods deigned to regard those mortals by whom the reve- 
rence for what is holy was trampled under foot : but his 
sentiment was not pious ; for such men have shewn them- 
selves 2 to be the offspring of those who breathe the 
audacious spirit of desperate deeds more than what is just, 

(1) "Mihi quidem yap ad prsecedens m Sixoppoiroos iBeiv referendum 
videtur, ut sensus hie sit : Vincat id quod bonum est, sine ambiguitate : mul- 
torum enim bonorum fructum, hoc dicens, mihi delegi." — Wellauer. 

(2) " Why should Dr. Blomfield so boldly pronounce this passage to be 
corrupt? — why should he attempt to re-write it? that is, entirely to 
change the thoughts and phrases of his author, on account of a schoolboy 
difficulty as to the number of Tre^avrat, and the usage of etrapKeTv, which 
word occurs in a line of Solon, cited by Plutarch, in much the same sense 
as it is used here." Symmons. It cannot be denied that there is some 
truth in this censure ; but we are not the more inclined on that account to 
agree with the learned critic in his own view of the passage. It is fair, 

K however, 



130 iESCHYLUS. 

their houses teeming with superfluous wealth beyond what 
is good for man. But may a lot secure from calamity be 
mine, so that I may rest content, possessing my soul in 
virtue ! For there is no defence in wealth to prevent the 
ruin of the man who in wanton pride hath spurned the 
mighty altar of Justice : for the wretched persuasion ' of 
fated calamity urges him on, suggesting intolerable counsels 
for posterity ; and relief is altogether hopeless. The man 
is not concealed, but stands confessed in pestilential and 
glaring guilt ; and, like adulterate brass, he is proved by 
attrition and allision to be but one mass of blackness ; since 
he chases as some boy the winged bird, and entails on his 
country intolerable affliction. Of the Gods there is no one 
to regard his prayer, and their vengeance destroys the 
guilty wretch who is conversant with these deeds. And 
such was Paris, who, coming to the mansion of the sons of 
Atreus, profaned the hospitable board by the rape of a 
wedded dame : but she, having left to her countrymen the 
tumults of the shield and the spear and the arming of 
mariners, and bearing to Troy destruction for her dowry 
passed quickly through the gates, daring what all duty 

however, that we should give the reader an opportunity of judging of its 
merits, by transcribing it, as it stands in his spirited version : — 
" So said the impious ; but the Gods 

Have shewn themselves in dreadful view, 

E'en to the children of aspiring kings, 

And to these hosts of war in armour bright 

Steel'd and caparison'd for lawless fight, 

Whilst plumed Mars breathed horror on their helms : 

And to the plenteous palaces of pride, 

The towers of grandeur, and the thrones of state, 
Too glorious to be good " 
(1) " Vice has its assuasive charms ; but the remedy is not entirely 
concealed, as the mischief glares through her disguise ; and as adulterate 
brass is discovered by a proper trial, so is it with the wicked, who pursues 
his wanton sports to the destruction of his country : considering the 
subject, the allusion to a boy pursuing a bird has a singular propriety and 
beauty : here the great moral recurs again, that vice shall not be un- 
punished ; and the whole is applied to Paris, who, in violation of the 
sacred rights of hospitality, bore away the wife of Menelaus." — Potter. 



AGAMEMNON. 131 

forbade. And deeply did the Prophets of the house lament, 
giving vent to these words : — " Alas for this house ! alas for 
this house and its lords ! Alas for the nuptial bed, and 
traces of her once-loyal love ! Lo there she silent stands l 
bereaved of her honour, and yet by us unreviled, the 
fairest, now that all is lost, that eye may behold ! In his 
grief for the loss of her who is far beyond the sea, her 
image shall still seem to be queen in the palace : for the 
beauty of shapely statues is hateful to the husband ; and 
in the lack-lustre of the eye all charm of love is lost. 
But mournful visions shall haunt his dreams, and imbue 
them with an illusive joy. For vain is the illusion, 
when, as he thinks that he beholds the presence of 
good, the vision, passing through his hands, departs 
soon after on wings that attend the paths of sleep. 11 — 
Such sorrows as these dwell by the hearth of the house, 
and sorrows even transcending these. But through the 
whole land there is marked grief of the suffering heart in 
every abode, for the banded warriors who left the Grecian 
shore. Ah ! many are the pangs that pierce to the heart : 
for all know whom they ha\e sent forth, and in place of men 
their armour and their ashes return to the homes of each. 
And Mars, who barters his victims for gold, and holds the 
balance in the combat of the spear, sends from the pyres of 
Troy the relics of their dust, to be steeped in affections 
bitter tears, filling the graceful urn with ashes instead of 
the warrior ! Their kindred lament the brave ; praising 
one as well-skilled in fight, and one as having gallantly 
died in the slaughter on account of another's wife. Thus 
each in secret murmurs ; and the indignation of their sor- 
row spreads against the sons of Atreus, the champions of 
the cause. But others, who fell there in beauty's bloom, 
are laid around the wall, in sepulchres of the Trojan land, 

(l) These expressions may be supposed to allude to some statue of 
Helen, which, suddenly presented to the eye, awoke the remembrance of 
her beauty in those who were lamenting her crime. The passage has 
been much disputed, but we do not see any reason to condeflfin it as 
corrupt. 

k2 



132 jESCHYLUS. 

and it is a hostile soil that hath closed on the tenants of its 
tombs. But the angry rumours of citizens are grievous to 
be borne, and their effect resembles the solemn impreca- 
tion of a people 1 . My anxious mind expects to hear of 
some deed palled in blackest night : for the Gods forget 
not to mark those whose hands are red with blood ; and 
sooner or later the dark Furies consign to obscurity, in a 
changed reverse of life, the man who in prosperity regarded 
not Justice ; and feeble is the power of him who ranks 
among the unknown. But yet the enjoyment of too high 
fame is dangerous, for the lightning of Jove smites the brow 
of its possessor. Unenvied happiness is the lot I would 
choose. May I neither be a spoiler of cities ; nor yet, my- 
self a captive, behold my life at the mercy of another ! — 
The rumour awoke by the happy tidings of the beacon 
has quickly pervaded the city. But who can tell if it be 
true ? We may well call it divine, if it be not false. And 
yet who is so childish, and so unendowed with prudence, 
as to have kindled his spirits at the news announced by 
the light, and then to feel sorrow at a change of the report ? 
It suits with the sway of a woman to assent to the tidings 
of joy before it has appeared. The female sex, too, 
quickly lends itself to easy credence; but the rumour 
which has only a woman for its herald perishes by a 
speedy fate. 

clytem.' — We shall quickly know of these interchanges 
of the fire-bearing torches and beacons and flames, whe- 
ther they be true, or whether, like dreams, this light that 
came to rejoice us deceived our minds. I see a herald, 
covered with boughs of olive, approaching near from the 
shore ; and the thirsty dust, the kindred brother of mud, 
bears witness to me of this, that he will neither without 
words, nor by kindling the flame of wood on the moun- 
tains, signify his tidings by smoke and fire. But he will 

either by his words announce a fuller joy, or but I 

abhor to think of a tale reverse of this ; for may good 
result, in addition to the good that has already appeared ! 

(1) See Blomf. Gloss. 414. 



AGAMEMNON. 133 

chorus. — May he who prays otherwise for this city reap 
in his own misfortunes the fruits of his sinful thoughts' ! 

HERALD. 

O paternal soil of the Argive land 1 ! to thee have I re- 
turned in the light of this tenth year, fortunate in one 
hope after the shipwreck of many others : for I never ex- 
pected, that, dying in this Argive land, I should gain a 
share in a burial so dear. Now hail, thou earth ! and hail 
thou light of the sun ! and Jupiter, supreme in this realm ! 
and thou, O King of Pytho, no longer winging against us 
the shafts from thy how ! By the banks of Scamander 
enough we felt thy rage. But now do thou prove our sa- 
viour and deliverer from the contest, O sovereign Apollo ! 
And I implore air the Gods who arbitrate the strife of 
battle, and Hermes my patron, the friendly Herald by 
heralds worshipped, and the heroes who sent us forth, 
again to receive propitiously the warriors who have been 
spared by the spear ! O ye courts of our Princes, beloved 
abodes ! and ye consecrated seats and Gods that front the 
sun ! if ever before, O now, greet with the honour of your 
smiling aspects the late return of our king ! For the royal 
Agamemnon comes, bringing a light that will dispel your 
gloom, and diffuse its beams to the whole of his people. 
But greet him well ; for such meed is due, since he hath 
overthrown Troy with the spade 2 of avenging Jove, by the 
work of which it hath been uprooted from the soil. Its 

(1) " The unity of action is preserved in this play, but the unity of time 
would appear to be disregarded ; for nothing but a miracle could have 
brought the Herald home so soon, supposing the exhibition of the beacons 
to have taken place immediately on the taking of Troy. Strictly speaking, 
however, the unity of time is not violated. The poet has hazarded a mi- 
racle or improbability off the stage, artificially and clandestinely concealed 
from the attention of the spectators ; but every thing on the stage proceeds 
rapidly and consecutively in the space of a day, and nothing there occurs to 
mark any greater lapse of time." — Symmons. 

(2) This expression is mean and unpoetical ; but of course it excites 
the admiration of Schiitz, who calls it " magnifica allegoria ;" as if, for- 
sooth, even in a more common subject, there could be any magnificence 
in calling a spade a spade, 



134 jESCHYLUS. 

altars are no more, nor the seats of its Gods; and the 
offspring of the whole land hath for ever perished. Our 
king, the elder son of Atreus, a hero blessed by Heaven, 
having imposed such a yoke on Troy, returns to his home ; 
and of all mankind he is the most worthy of honour in this 
age : for neither Paris nor the confederate city can boast 
of injuries greater than the retribution they have paid. 
Being cast in a suit of rapine and theft, he both forfeited 
his pledge, and in fatal ruins he levelled with the soil the 
house of his fathers. By a double penalty have the sons of 
Priam had to atone for their guilt. 

chorus. — Joy to you, herald of the Achaeans from the 
host ! 

herald. — I am elate with joy, and shall no longer refuse 
to the Gods to die. 

chorus. — Has longing for this your native land preyed 
on your mind ? 

herald. — So that through joy my eyes now fill with 
tears. 

chorus. — Have ye, too, been reached by this sweet in- 
fection ? 

herald. — How, I pray? When informed, I shall be 
master of your meaning ? 

chorus. — Smitten with the desire of those who longed 
for you in return. 

herald. — Do you mean that this land regretted the re- 
gretting army ? 

chorus. — So that I oft lamented in my secret soul. 

herald. — Whence came this despondency, so hateful to 
the army ? 

chorus. — I have long since learned to maintain silence, 
as a remedy against mishap. 

herald. — And how, in the absence of your lords, should 
you fear any one ? 

chorus. — So that, as your words now ran, even death 
were dearly welcome. 

ii;:rald. — I said so, because our toils were successful '•> 
but thus, in a lengthened period, there are some things 



AGAMEMNON. 135 

which you may say are well, and others again liable to 
censure: for who, except the Gods, is exempt from mis- 
fortune through the whole space of his life? Should I 
recount our hardships and inclement watches, our few op- 
portunities of landing, and even then our rugged couches 

was there one moment of the day that was allotted 

us, but what we passed in groans ? But as to the evils that 
were added on shore, we had still more cause of abhor- 
rence : for our repose was to be sought by the walls of the 
enemy ; and dews from the sky and from that marshy soil 
kept drizzling upon us, the certain destruction of our gar- 
ments, and the cause of our hair resembling that of wild 
beasts \ But if one should describe the winter that killed 
even the birds, all intolerable as it was rendered by the 
snows of Ida ; or the heat, when at noon the sea without a 

wave sank to rest on its unruffled couch yet why should 

I grieve at these remembrances ? Our toils are past ; aye, 
and the thought of ever arising again hath past, too, to the 
slain. But why is it necessary that the living should sum 
up the numbers of those that have perished, and grieve for 
the chances of wayward fortune ? I myself think it right to 
bid a long farewell to miseries. To us, the survivors of the 
Argive host, the gain preponderates, and the loss is light in 
the scale; so that we may justly, after winging our way 
beyond sea and land, boast to this light of the sun : " The 
banded warriors of the Argives having taken Troy, have 
hung on high these spoils to the Gods of Greece, a glit- 
tering offering to their ancient temples i" It befits all who 
hear this boast to speak nobly of the city and its rulers ; 
and the favour of Jove, that hath granted this completion, 
shall be duly honoured. You have heard me out. 

chorus. — Persuaded of the truth of your words, I do not 
refuse my assent; for the being open to instruction is a 

(1) "Potter would have done well not to have attacked Heath's ver- 
sion of this passage, which is quite correct : riOevres evOtjpov rpix a , ' making 
our hair like the shag of wild beasts. 1 Where in these words can he find 
the shadow of his own version, 'Shrouded ill in shaggy coverings'?" — 

Symmons. 



136 .ESCHYLUS. 

principle that is always vigorous in the old. But it is 
reasonable that these tidings should chiefly excite the con- 
cern of this house and of Clytemnestra, and at the same 
time should enrich my happiness. 

clytem. — I long since raised the shout through joy, 
when the first messenger of flame appeared through the 
darkness to proclaim the capture and destruction of Troy : 
and some one, chiding me, said : *' Persuaded by beacons, 
do you think that Troy hath now been sacked ? How like 
a woman, to be thus transported in mind !" According to 
these remarks, I appeared to be deceived : but still I offered 
the sacrifice, and with the female strain, each in different 
quarters through the city, raised on high the shout of joy, 
giving voice to its glad acclaim, as they lulled to sleep 1 in 
the temples of the Gods the fragrant flame amid the con- 
suming incense. But now what need is there for you to 
narrate more to me ? I shall hear the whole account from 
the king himself. And I shall hasten to receive with most 
fitting welcome my revered lord on his return. For what 
day can be more grateful for a woman to behold, than that 
when she opens the gate to her husband whom the Gods 
have preserved from the war ? Bear back this message to 
my lord ; That he come as quickly as possible, being eagerly 
desired by the city ; and, on his arrival, that he will find in 
his palace a faithful wife, such even as he left, the watch-dog 
of his house, true to him, hostile to his enemies, and the 
same in every thing else, having broke no seal 2 of what was 

(1) " Recte Butlerus vidit, Kotjucovre? a participio eixptj/uovvre^ pendere, 
lit sermo sit de acclamationibus in fine sacrificii fieri solitis : acclamabant 
exstinguentes jlammam." — Wellader. 

(2) "In this message to her husband, Clytemnestra, according to the 
usage of those simple times, reports to him that she had not broken one 
seal in his house, though he had been so long away. It appears to have 
been the custom of the ancient Greek ladies (and a very good custom it 
was) to send to their husbands at a distance these , comforting assurances, 
that housewifery had not suffered in their absence, that their strong-box 
had not been broken open, nor their cellars entered. Potter, however, 
and Schiitz (which is more surprising, for Schiitz is the very best in- 
terpreter of iEschylus), disdaining such humbleness, figures away with 

expressions 



AGAMEMNON. 137 

entrusted to her in all this length of time. Nor have I 
known the pleasure, nor the slanderous reproach of ano- 
ther's embrace, more than the metal from the mine the 
stain of the tincture \ 

herald. — Such a boast, being replete with truth, is not 
dishonourable for a noble dame to utter. 

chorus. — She indeed has thus spoken for your informa- 
tion, in clear words that speciously interpret her meaning. 
But do you tell me, herald, for I wish to ask of Menelaus, 
if he will come with you in safe return to his home, the 
beloved monarch of this land ? 

herald. — It is impossible that I should state a specious 
falsehood, so that my friends could for any length of time 
enjoy the delusion. 

chorus. — But how can you be able to say what is both 
good and true ? for these qualities were very obviously dis- 
joined by you. 

expressions about the seal of constancy, giving her words a metaphorical 
meaning. I am surprised that any scholar should so render o-tj/jiavTTJpiov, 
limited by the word oi/$ev, '/ have not broken one seal,'' How can such 
an expression refer to a seal of constancy ? Were there, then, many seals of 
constancy? The trespass in such a case must be one and indivisible; 
whereas she might have broken open his strong-box, and yet not entered 
his cellar. Had the poet intended that sense, he would have said <rwav- 

rtjpiov evvfjs, or some such phrase." Symmons. "Variis modis profec- 

turi de castitate conjugali prospiciebant, ne violatio lateret. Vide quae 
Michaelis ad jus Mosaicum de signis virginitatis et passim ad Prophetas 

subtiliter disputavit." Jo. Muller. Mr. Symmons has not taken 

notice of this quaint opinion ; but his objections to the interpretation of 
arjfxavrrjpcov in a metaphorical sense are still more strongly conclusive 
against it as a literal seal of constancy. 

(l) "Potter has rendered this, * More than the virgin metal in the mines 
knows an adulterate and debasing mixture.' See his note, in which he con- 
fesses himself doubtful, and acknowledges his guide, Pauw, to be at a 
loss. Dr. Blomfield seems also a little puzzled ; but, at any rate, does 
right in condemning Schiitz's rendering x a ^ K °v fiatyas, vulnera cere facta.'' 
Dr. Butler and Abreschius are clearly right in rendering it ' tinctura certs,' 
'the dyeing of metals;' a proverbial expression, to signify *a thing impos- 
sible or out of the question,' dyeing being a process peculiar to wool, and 
inapplicable to metals." — Symmons. 



138 AESCHYLUS. 

herald. — That leader has disappeared from the Achaean 
host, both he and his ship. I tell what is true. 

chorus. — Whether having sailed out in your sight from 
Troy? or did some storm, distressing all the fleet, force 
him to part company ? 

herald. — You have hit the mark, like a skilful archer ; 
and have briefly included in your words no small compass 
of suffering. 

chorus. — Whether was it currently reported among the 
other mariners that he was dead or alive ? 

herald. — No one knows so as clearly to declare of this, 
except the sun that supplies fertility to the earth. 

chorus. — But how do you relate that this storm, sent on 
our naval armament by the wrath of the Gods, arose and 
subsided ? 

herald. — It is not fitting to sully this auspicious day 
with the words of evil tidings : the honour of the Gods 
forbids. But when a messenger with gloomy look brings 
home the unwelcome tidings of the ruin and fall of an 
army, telling that one general wound has befallen the city, 
and that many of her citizens have been sacrificed from 
many houses by the double scourge which Mars loves, the 
twin furies of battle, the yoke he harnesses for blood, then 
were it fitting that, freighted with so many calamities, he 
should utter this psean of the Furies: but coming to a 
city rejoicing in prosperity, the welcome messenger of 
safety and success, how shall I mingle the happy with 
the sad, relating the tempest that assailed the Achseans 
not without the wrath of Heaven ? For elements formerly 
most hostile, fire and water, conspired together, and gave 
proof of their fidelity, by destroying the wretched host of 
the Argives. In the night awoke the terrors of the 
troubled deep; for the Thracian blasts dashed the ships 
against each other; and many, lashed furiously by the 
whirlwind of the storm and the beatings of the whelming 
surge, were driven away from view, beneath the uncertain 
guidance of a dangerous shepherd K And when the bright 

(1) "rio</u}t kcikos hie est ipsa tempestas." — Pauw. 



AGAMEMNON. J 39 

light of the sun returned, we see the dead bodies of the 
Achaean mariners, and the wrecks of their ships, strewing, 
thick as fallen blossoms, the waves of the iEgaean. But 
some one either secretly withdrew from the danger, or in- 
terceded to save, both us and our ship, with her timbers 
unstrained : some God it must have been, and no mortal, 
that laid hold of the helm: and Fortune, our preserver, 
sat directing our course, so that neither in the anchorage 
was the ship exposed to the fury of the waves, nor yet was 
stranded on the rugged shore. Having,' then, escaped a 
watery grave, yet scarcely believing our good fortune, 
through the serene day we ruminated sadly on the recent 
disaster, all our comrades having suffered from it, and 
having been miserably wrecked. And now, if any of them 
be alive, they speak of us as dead — why not? and we 
deem of them as subject to this fate. But may the event 
be for the best! Expect, then, first, and most certainly, that 
Menelaus will come : for if any beam of the sun discovers 
him still living, and looking on the light, preserved by the 
contrivances of Jove, who is yet unwilling to extirpate 
the race, there is hope that he will return to his home. 
Having heard this much, know that you have heard the 
truth. 

chorus. — Who was it that thus in every respect so truly 
marked with her name (was it not some one, whom we see 
not, directing, though in a chance circumstance, his tongue 
with a prescience of the future ?) Helen the bride of the 
spear and the cause of contention ? since, in accordance with 
her name, a destruction * to ships, to men, and to cities, she 
sailed from her silk-enwoven bower before the gales of 

(l) Mr. Symmons, in alluding to the play upon words which we constantly 
meet with in the Greek Tragedians, has finely remarked : " It may at first 
excite our surprise that these writers, who so religiously abstain from any 
mixture of comedy or buffoonery, should in this solitary instance have affected 
what we should call punning. But a nearer view of the subject will teach 
us, that they intended nothing jocular ; and that they had in view the doctrines 
of some mysterious and Pythagorean philosophy, which inculcated that the 
giving of names, indicative of the destiny of individuals, was a matter of 

predestination. 



140 AESCHYLUS. 

earth-born Zephyr l ; and many were the mail-clad warriors, 
pursuing on the viewless track of her oars, that moored their 
barks by the green-wood banks of Simois, thirsting for the 
bloody strife. And vengeance, consummating its purpose, 
brought on Ilion an alliance, rightly named from grief, 
exacting punishment, though late, for the dishonour done 
to the hospitable board, and to Jove the guardian of the 
host, who horribly avenged the nuptial song in honour of 
the bridegroom, which it then fell to the lot of his brothers 
to sing. But the ancient city of Priam, learning another 
strain, now laments with deepest groans, arraigning Paris 
the polluter of the bed, and having for long before endured 
a wretched existence on account of the cruel slaughter of 
her citizens. Thus has a man reared for the bane of his 
house a lion just weaned from the milk, yet still loving the 
teat, gentle in the outset of life, the playmate of the child- 
ren, and even a favourite with the old : and ofttimes he 
was caressed in their arms like a nursling babe, coming 
with pleased look to the hand, and fawning in the necessi- 
ties of hunger. But as he became older, he shewed the 
disposition he had inherited from his parents ; for requiting 
the debt of his nurture, he prepared an unbidden banquet 
on the mangled limbs of the slaughtered sheep, and the 
house was dabbled with blood — an unconquerable torment 
to the inmates of the dwelling, and a mighty pest that 
spread wide havoc ! But by the decree of Heaven he was 
reared in the house, as a high-priest for these calamitous 
rites. In the same way I would say that there came to the 
city of Ilion the spirit of breathless calm, wealth's imaged 
form of beauty with noiseless tread, softly 'aiming, in side- 
long glances from the eye, the flowery shafts of love, to 
wound the bleeding heart : but in the end she brought a 
bitter close to the nuptials, having come an evil inmate and 
fatal associate to the children of Priam, sent by Jove the 

predestination. Plato, in his Cratylus, full of false and fanciful etymologies, 
dwells largely and gravely on this subject." 

(l) Zephyr was the son of Aurora, and of Astrteus, a descendant of 
the Titans. 



AGAMEMNON. 141 

protector of the host to prove a fiend in the woe of that 
wedlock \ There has long been celebrated among mortals 
an ancient proverb, That the high and perfect happiness of 
a man gives birth to a future progeny, nor dies barren of 
descent ; but that from mere good fortune intolerable cala- 
mity arises for the race. Now, in this I vary in my senti- 
ments from others; for it is only the impious deed that 
afterwards engenders more resembling the origin which 
they own, while it is the lot of those houses that swerve not 
from justice to be ever blessed with a fair succession. Inso- 
lence indeed, of an ancient date, is wont again to beget 
insolence, springing up afresh in the ills of mortals, either 
now or then, whensoever its hour shall have come ; and 
that new insolence gives birth to an invincible fiend, ab- 
horred by the light, even the accursed and fearless Power 
of Ruin descending darkly on the abodes of men, all 
hideous as its parents. But Justice sheds her light in the 

(l) Mr. Symmons has translated this beautiful passage with conside- 
rable power and richness of expression : — 

'* When first she came to Ilion's towers, 
O what a glorious sight, I ween, was there ! 
The tranquil beauty of the gorgeous queen 
Hung soft as breathless summer on her cheeks, 
Where on the damask sweet the glowing zephyr slept ; 
And like an idol beaming from its shrine, 
So o'er the floating gold around her thrown 
Her peerless face did shine ; 
And though sweet softness hung upon their lids, 
Yet her young eyes still wounded where they look'd. 
She breath'd an incense like Love's perfumed flower, 
Blushing in sweetness ; so she seemed in hue, 
And pained mortal eyes with her transcendent view : 
E'en so to Paris' bed the lovely Helen came. 
But dark Erinnys, in the nuptial hour, 
Rose in the midst of all that bridal pomp, 

Seated midst the feasting throng, 
. Amidst the revelry and song ; 

Erinnys, led by Xenius Jove, 

Into the halls of Priam's sons, 

Erinnys of the mournful bower, 
Where youthful brides weep sad in midnight hour." 



142 jESCHYLUS. 

smoke-obscured cottage, and honours the righteous life ; 
while, leaving with averted eyes mere tinselly goods ac- 
quired with pollution of the hand, she approaches what is 
holy, having no regard for the power of wealth that is 
falsely stamped with praise : and every event she directs 
to its completion. 

x Come then, O King, destroyer of the city of Troy, son 
of Atreus ! how shall I salute thee ? how shall I pay thee 
my homage, neither exceeding, nor yet falling short of the 
measure of grateful feeling ? There are many among men 
who prefer the appearance of justice, while they transgress 
its laws : and every one is ready to lend his groans to the 
man who is in distress, but the real smart of grief does not 
reach to their hearts: in like manner they rejoice with 
others in their joy, assuming the same expression, and 
forcing their countenances that refuse the smile. But 
whosoever is a good discerner of his flock, it is impossible 
that the countenance of a man, which merely seems from a 
friendly regard to fawn on him with a diluted friendship, 
should deceive his observation. But you, indeed, at the 
time when you led forth the expedition on account of 
Helen (for I will not conceal it) were represented in my 
mind in very harsh colours, as not directing aright the 
helm of your thoughts, in forcing an unwilling hardihood 
on men who marched to death. But now, from the bottom 
of my heart, nor with aught but the feelings of friendship, 
I glow with warm regard for those who have gloriously 
crowned their toils. In time you will learn, by inquiry, 
which of your people have kept watch over the city with 
justice, and which have transgressed it. 

AGAMEMNON. 

First of all, it is right that I should salute Argos 1 and 
the Gods of the country, the joint causes of my return, and 
of the just vengeance which I exacted from the city of 

( 1 ) " Tandem revertor sospes ad patrios lares. 

O chara salve terra ! tibi tot barbara) 
Dedere gentes spolia : tibi felix diu 
Potentis Asite Trqja summisit marms." Sen. Agam. 7S2. 



AGAMEMNON. 143 

Priam. For the Gods hearing the question in truth, and 
not as pleaded by the tongue, without hesitation placed their 
votes for the destruction of Troy and its people in the urn 
of blood ; and Hope went up in vain to the opposite urn, 
which was not filled by the hand. The city even now gives 
clear token of its "capture by the smoke ; the tempest of 
ruin is not yet spent; and the dying ashes send up rich 
clouds of consuming wealth. On account of this success 
we ought to pay the tribute of lasting gratitude to the 
Gods, since we have effected a matchless snare; and to 
avenge a woman, the Argive monster hath laid the city in 
the dust ; our warriors lightly brandishing their shields as 
they issued from the horse which leaped 1 within the walls* 
about the setting of the Pleiades. The ravening lion, having 
bounded over the towers, lapped, till he was glutted, the 
blood of princes. To the Gods I have extended this pre- 
lude ; but with respect to what you said of your sentiments, 
I remember to have heard it, and I coincide with you in 
the same, and grant you my full accord: for in few of 
men is there implanted the virtue of honouring without 
envy the prosperity of a friend ; since a malignant poison 
rankling in the heart loads with a double burden the victim 
of its infection; and he is both oppressed with his own 
misfortunes, and groans as he beholds the happiness of his 
neighbour. From my experience I would affirm, and I 
well have proved their intercourse, that they who formerly 
appeared my warmest friends were only like the image on 
the mirror — the shadow of a shade. Ulysses, who sailed 
against his will, alone lent me any ready aid in the harness 
of the yoke, whether I vouch this for him dead or alive. 
As to what remains concerning the city and the Gods, hav- 
ing instituted public debate in the full assembly, we will 
resolve ourselves ; and counsel must be taken that all that 
now is well may long continue the same ; while, if in any 
case there be need of healing medicine, we will endeavour, 
by applying cautery or incision with kind intention, to 

(1) " Cum fatalis equus saltii super ardua venit 

Pergama." Virg. JEn. VI. 5 1 5 . 



144 >ESCHYLUS. 

aver the evils of the malady. But now advancing to my 
palace and the hearth of my home, I will first salute the 
Gods, who having sent me to a distant clime now grant my 
return ; and may Victory, since she hath so far attended 
our steps, securely abide with us ! 

clytem. — Men of this city, ye senators of Argos ! ! I will 
not be ashamed to disclose before you my conjugal affec- 
tion ; for by long intercourse, bashful timidity diminishes 
in the human breast. Not being taught by others, I will 
from my own experience recount the hardships of my life, 
endured for so long a time, as he was warring beneath the 
walls of Troy. In the first place, it is no light evil for a 
woman to sit in solitude at home, bereft of her husband, 
hearing many afflicting reports ; and that one messenger 
should come, and that another should follow with tidings 
of ill even worse than the first, announcing them to the 
house. If my lord here had met with as many wounds as 
rumour told through various channels at home, he had been 
perforated, if I may so say, even more than a net ; and if 
he had died as oft as the thickening reports told, he might 
have boasted, that, like a second Geryon with three bodies, 
he had received while on the earth (for I talk not of the 
grave) an ample triple coil of clay, dying once in each form 2 . 

(l) "According to the simplicity of ancient manners, Clytemnestra 
should have waited to receive her husband in the house ; but her affected 
fondness led her to disregard decorum. Nothing can be conceived more 
artful than her speech ; but that very art shews that her heart had little 
share in it : her pretended sufferings during his absence are touched with 
great delicacy and tenderness ; but had they been real, she would not have 
stopped him here with the querulous recital : the joy for his return, had 
she felt that joy, would have broke out first : this is deferred to the latter 
part of her address ; there, indeed, she has amassed every image expressive 
of welcome ; but her solicitude to assemble these leads her beyond nature, 
which expresses her strongest passions in broken sentences, and with a 
nervous brevity, not with the cold formality of a set harangue. Her last 
words are another instance of the double sense which expresses reverence 
to her husband, but intends the bloody design with which her soul was 
agitated." — Potter. 

i (2) " Geryon was a king of Spain killed by Hercules, fabled to have 
had three bodies. Clytemnestra compares her husband to this giant ; and 

says, 



AGAMEMNON. 1 15 

On account of these melancholy rumours, the hands of 
others have often loosed the nooses suspended from above 
around my neck, which was thus by force frustrated of its 
intention. In consequence of this, your son Orestes, the 
pledge of our faithful loves, is not here, as were fitting, by 
my side. But be not surprised at this ; for a faithful friend 
acquired in war is attending to his nurture, Strophius the 
Phocian, who predicted to me many dubious calamities, 
both in your danger beneath the walls of Troy, and if the 
anarchy of the turbulent people should overthrow the 
Senate l ; as it is natural for men to trample the more on 

says, that if he had been slain as often as reported, this second triple 
Geryon (meaning Agamemnon under that name, for it were ominous to 
talk of the dead) might well boast to have received his triple vest, 
meaning his three bodies, and to have died once in each shape." Potter. 

" Dr. Blomfield has vitiated this passage, by a wrong punctuation aud 

interpretation : yXcuva rpipioipoq must mean the body of the giant, and can 
by no means be understood of the earth which covered him. To talk of 
a three-fated vest of earth, meaning a sepulchre, would, in English, be 
rank nonsense ; and I am afraid that x6° v °s TPIMOIPON x^a?vav, so con- 
strued, would deserve no better name in Greek. Besides, in matter of 
taste, can any thing be more frigid than this interment of the giant ? for 
the critic not only buries him, but calculates with mathematical precision 
the quantity of earth that it took to cover him, without reckoning the quan- 
tity that lay under him." Symmons. " Sensus hie esse debet : Si verd 

tot mortes obiisset, quot multiplicabant rumores, posset, tanquam alter Geryon 
tricorpor, scepius sibi triplex in terra {nam quod sub terra est Geryonis corpus, 
non dico) corpus contigisse gloriari. Quod verb addit, se non de tricorpore 
umbra Geryonis loqui, quse apud inferos sit, id non otiosum est, sed ad in- 
vidiam removendam et ad sustentandam earn, quam pra) se fert, amoris 
speciem, comparatum. Quum enim Agamemnonem cum Geryone com- 
paret, fieri possit, ut aliquis de Geryone apud inferos habitante cogitet 
eumque cum Agamemnone mortuo conferat, quare suhjicit : longe absit, 
ut de Agamemnone mortuo loquar." Wellauer. 

" Und war' er umgekommen, jeder Sage nach, 
so hatt', ein zweiter, dreigestaltiger Geryon, 
er oben, denn von jener unten red' ich nicht, 
mit Recht geruhmt dreifacher Erdenhulle sich, 
einmal vom Tode weggerafft in jeglicher." Humboldt. 

(l) "This I contend, with Stanley, Schiitz, and Butler, to mean 'over- 
throwing the Senate or Council of State.' Who ever heard that povXrjv 
KarappiTrreiv meant ' concilium inire ' ? As to the anachronism of a Senate 
at Argos in those days, it is notorious that the Attic Tragedians committed 

L many 



146 /ESCHYLUS. 

the fallen. Such a pretext, indeed, bears with it no guile. 
The gushing fountains of my tears have in fact become dry, 
nor is there a drop left ; and I have dimmed my eyes by 
late watchings, gazing through their tears for the beacon 
that never told thy return. Even in my dreams I was 
startled by the gnat as it whizzed by me on light wings, 
seeing more calamities befall you than were commensurate 
with the time passed in slumber. Now, after having en- 
dured all these woes in my mourning breast, I would say 
of this man, that he was the watch-dog of the fold, the 
cable by which the ship rides through the storm, the shafted 
pillar of the lofty roof, a child whose father hath but one, 
the land when first descried by the despairing mariner, 
the day breaking gladly on the sight after the night of 
storm, and the fountain-stream gushing to the parched 
traveller. Welcome is the escape from all hard constraint. 
Of such salutation I account him worthy ; and let it pro- 
duce no offence, for I have formerly endured many evils. 
But now I pray thee, my dear lord, descend from this cha- 
riot, not placing on the ground, O king, thy foot which laid 
Ilion low. Why do ye delay, ye maidens, to whom the 
office was commanded of strewing with tapestry the surface 
of his path ? Let the way of entrance be instantly covered 
with purple, that Justice may lead him into an unexpected 
abode. As to what remains, my anxious thought, not over- 
come with sleep, shall, with the assistance of the Gods, 
execute justly the decrees of fate. 

agam. — O daughter of Leda, guardian of my house, you 
have spoken in a manner corresponding to my absence ; 
for you have extended your words to a great length. But 
praise, to be becoming, must be an. honour proceeding from 
others. And besides, do not soothe me with adulation, as 
though I were a woman ; nor, like a barbaric slave prostrate 

many of the same description, applying to the times of the Trojan War 
the language and customs, &c. of their own time. But why might 
not iEschylus imagine a fiovXtj yepovroov, to assist Clytemnestra in the 
cares of government ? and do not the Chorus, in the opening of the play, 
consider themselves in that light, calling themselves axi'ac yaicv; fwvo- 
(ppovpov epKos ?" — Symmons. 



AGAMEMNON. 147 

on the ground before me, open the mouth with eager cla- 
mour ; nor, having strewed the garments for my feet, make 
my path obnoxious to the envy of Heaven. We ought to 
honour the Gods with such gifts ; and for me, who am a 
mortal, to tread on these embroidered robes of beauty, is a 
daring I cannot contemplate without fear. I bid you 
honour me as a man, not as a God. Without tapestry for 
the feet or the embroidered woof, Fame proclaims my 
glory ; and the absence of presumptuous thoughts is the 
greatest gift of the Gods. The man whom alone we must 
pronounce happy, is he who ends his life in sweet pro- 
sperity : and would that I may thus in every thing conduct 
myself without arrogance ! 

clytem. — And yet do not say so to thwart my purpose. 

agam. — Be assured, indeed, that I will not yield my pur- 
pose. 

clytem. — Had you been in fear, you would have vowed 
to^the Gods to do this. 

agam. — I clearly knowing, if ever any man did, have 
pronounced my final determination. 

clytem. — What do you think that Priam would have 
done, if he had achieved this victory ? 

agam. — I think that he would have undoubtedly trodden 
on the tapestry. 

clytem. — Do not you, then, regard the blame of men. 

agam. — The rumours muttered among a people have, 
however, great power. 

clytem. — The man who is not envied is surely not ' he 
object of admiration. 

agam. — It is not the part of a woman to be desirous of 
contention. 

clytem.- — But it is becoming those who are in high pro- 
sperity to yield. 

agam. — Do you value the triumph in this contest ? 

clytem. — O be persuaded, and willingly resign to me 
the victory ! 

agam. — I yield unwilling ; but if these things seem good* 
to you, let some slave quickly unbind the sandals on whicli 

l2 



148 AESCHYLUS. 

my steps advance, lest, as I tread on these works of ocean's 
dye, some envy of the eye of Heaven glance on me from on 
high. Great, too, is my reluctance to waste the possessions 
of my palace, destroying with my feet the costly robes, 
the enwoven purple priced with silver. Of this enough. 
But with gentle feelings conduct the maid of foreign land 
within. Whoso tempers victory with mercy, him does the 
God from his throne on high regard with benignant eye. 
For no one with willing choice submits to the yoke of 
slavery ; and she, the choicest flower of countless wealth, 
gift of the host, hath followed in my train. But since I am 
forced to obey you in this request, I go within the courts 
of my palace, treading on the robes of purple. 

clytem. — There is a sea, and who shall staunch its 
founts ? In its depths it breeds the oozing purple, ever 
bubbling up afresh, costly as silver, dye of the robe ; and 
there exists, O king, by the blessing of the Gods, the pos- 
session of these treasures in our palace. Poverty is a 
stranger to its halls. Many a vest for the tread of 
your foot would I have vowed, had it previously been an- 
nounced to the house in oracles that I should thus work a 
charm to win back your life. For while the root remains, 
the foliage spreads over the house, extending a shade that 
defies the rays of the dog-star : and you having returned 
to the hearth of your home, you herald the approach of the 
summer's heat in winter; and when Jove is preparing 
the wine from the bitter juice of the unripe grape, then 
already through the house spreads a cooling tempera- 
ture, the sovereign's self making its home his haunt. 
Jove, O Jove, that givest consummation to every thing, 
consummate these my prayers ; and be those things 
to thee a care which thou art now on the eve of consum- 
mating ! 

chorus. — Why does this terror, incessantly dwelling in 
my presence, hover before my boding heart ? and why that 
strain, unbidden and unbribed, sound its prophetic note ? 
and why does not persuasive confidence, rejecting this 
dread, like mysterious dreams, take its seat on the grateful 



AGAMEMNON. 149 

throne of my mind? But time hath elapsed since its 
influence wasted the barks fastened to the shore by the 
ligature of the cables, at the time when our naval bands 
rushed beneath the walls of Troy. And I learn their re- 
turn from my own eyes, being a present witness of its 
certainty; yet still my mind, obeying its own internal 
impulse, awakes without the lyre the dirge of Erinnys, 
not entertaining all the sweet confidence of hope. And 
my heart within my breast is, not without cause, tossed 
in the eddies of care, in consequence of my just presages 
that will certainly reach their completion. But I pray 
that, contrary to my expectation, they may prove false, so 
as never to come to pass. For surely the extreme of high 
health is not exempt from danger; since disease plants 
itself as a neighbour within the next wall ; and the fortune 
of a man, even while proceeding in the fairest course, is 
wont to strike on the hidden rock. Still, when a provident 
fear hath cast overboard from a moderate sling a part of 
the wealthy freight, the whole fortunes of the house have 
not sunk, being too deeply laden with calamity, nor has its 
burden made the bark go down. Oft, too, have the ample 
gifts from the bounty of Jove and the harvest of the year 
banished the pest of famine. But the dark life-blood of 
man, which hath once fallen on the ground before him, who 
shall by incantation again recall ? Had it been permitted, 
Jove would not have checked him whose unerring know- 
ledge could restore souls to light with indemnity to the 
dead l . But did not fate, a fate ordained by the Gods, pro- 
hibit me from declaring more, my heart, anticipating my 
tongue, would pour forth all. Now in darkness it murmurs, 
grieving in its thoughts, and never expecting that it will un- 
ravel any of these mysteries in time to save, although my soul 

(1 ) " Sensus hie est : Neque, si Dii vellent mortuos reviviscere, Jupiter 
eum qui rem bend perspectam habet (iEsculapium), prohibuisset, quominus 
mortuorum aliquem ad integritatem reducer et.'''' Wellauer. iEsculapius 

was tempted by a costly bribe to display the triumph of his art by re- 
storing Hippolytus to life ; but Jupiter, indignant at this violation of his 
laws, slew with the same thunderbolt the presumptuous physician and 
the unlucky patient. 



L50 jESCHYLUS. 

is consumed with the burning anguish which they impart. 

clytem. — Do you also (I mean Cassandra) betake your- 
self within ; since Jove has leniently placed you in this 
house, to share in the sacred lavations, along with many 
slaves stationed beside the household altar. Descend from 
this chariot, and be not too proud for your fortunes ; for 
they say that even the son of Alcmena 1 once submitted to 
be sold to bondage, and to stoop by force to the yoke. 
But if, then, the necessity of this condition befall any one, 
they have much reason to be thankful who meet with 
masters in the possession of hereditary 2 wealth: for they 
who unexpectedly have reaped the harvest of success are 
harsh in all things to their slaves, and obey not the rule of 
right. With us you will have all those privileges that are 
usual and just. 

chorus. — To you having addressed these clear words, 
she now pauses : and being within the toils of fate, you will 
surely, if you may, comply : but perchance you may be 
inclined to refuse. 

clytem. — Why if she have not, like the swallow, accents 
barbarous and unintelligible, speaking within her compre- 
hension I must persuade her by my words. 

chorus. — Follow her : she advises what in your present 
circumstances is best. Be persuaded then, and leave the 
seat of the chariot. 

clytem. — I have not leisure to delay longer beside this 
stranger at the gates ; for already are the sheep placed by 
the central altar for the blazing sacrifice, a token of thanks- 
giving from us who never expected to enjoy this delight. 
But do you, if you will do any of these things, no longer 
delay : but if through ignorance you understand not my 

(1) Hercules was condemned by Jupiter to serve Omphale queen of 
Lydia for the space of a year, as a punishment for the cowardly stratagem 
by which he murdered Iphitus. 

(2) M Poetro sententiam clarissime prosequitur Philosophus, Rhe- 
toric. II. 32. Aia(j)cpci 5e roi$ vecotrri KeKTr/yuevoi?, kcli to?<; •KaKat ra rjdtj' to> 
cnravTCt fuaWov kcu ^avXorepa ra koko i f \eiv rovq veoirXovrovs' cocrirep yap 
cnraidcvvia ttXovtov earl, to veoirXovrov elvai." — Stanley. 



AGAMEMNON. 151 

words, do you, in place of speech, reply to me in signs with 
your barbaric hand. 

chorus. — The stranger maid appears to require a clear 
interpreter. Her manner is like that of some wild beast, 
when newly caught. 

clytem. — Surely she is mad, and obeys a distempered 
fancy, having come from the recent sack of her native city; 
and she knows not how to endure the bit, before she have 
spent her fury in bloody foam. But I will not submit to 
be dishonoured by casting away more words. 

chorus. — But I (for I pity her 1 ) will not be angry. 
Come, O unhappy maid ! forsake this chariot, and, yielding 
to necessity, endure the first trial of the yoke. 

CASSANDRA. 

Alas and alas ! O Gods ! O Earth ! O Apollo ! O Apollo ! 

chorus. — Why hast thou uttered " alas 11 along with the 
name of Loxias ? For he is not such a God as should be 
invoked by the mourner 2 . 

cass. — Alas and alas! O Gods! O Earth! O Apollo! 
O Apollo ! 

chorus. — She again with words of evil omen calls on the 
God to whom it in nought belongs to be present at la- 
mentations. 
, cass. — Apollo! Apollo! Agyieus my guide 3 ! Apollo 

(1) " The Chorus, as it became them, express themselves with tenderness 
and humanity to the unhappy princess : this introduces a scene, the finest, 
perhaps, that tragedy has yet known. It would be an affront to the understand- 
ing of the reader to point out the nice gradation of the prophetic fury ; and 
that heart must be hard indeed which does not feel the pathos." — Potter. 

(2) " So Callimachus beautifully makes even the mourning of Thetis for 
her son stop, when the hymns of Apollo were heard : 

Ovde Qerts 'Axi^-Xfja Kivvperai aiKiva /Jtartjp, 

OlTTTOT IT) TTCUTJOV, IT) TTCtirjoV aKOVOTT). 

In the next line the poet plays upon the meaning of the word Apollo. 
Plato, in Cratylus, gives the same etymology from cnroWvco, which I 
could not preserve in English." — Symmons. 

(3) " Enimvero Agyiea, ut et Apollinem, inclamat Cassandra, non otioso 
cognomine, sed etymologiam respiciens ; quippe to ayvievq airo rod dyetv 
derivari videtur. Multus est in hisce allusionibus ^schylus noster, 'Ayviev, 
inquit, a ttoi ttot rjyayes fxe ; ita 'Atto'aAwv e/*o?, cnrco\e<ra<; yap." — Stanley. 



152 vESCHYLUS. 

my destroyer! for thou hast a second time utterly de- 
stroyed me. 

chorus. — She seems about to prophesy concerning her 
own misfortunes. Inspiration, even in her chains, forsakes 
not her soul. 

cass.— Apollo ! Apollo ! Agyieus my guide ? Apollo my 
destroyer ! Ah ! whither hast thou been my guide ? to 
what roof hast thou brought me ? 

chorus. — To the palace of the Atridse. If you know 
not this, I tell it you ; and you will not say that my words 
are false. 

cass. — Alas! alas! It is to a house, then, accursed of 
Heaven, conscious of many a guilty deed of murder by 
kindred hands and many a fatal noose; to a slaughter- 
house, where man is the victim ; to a soil whose fountains 
are blood. 

chorus. — The stranger seems, like a hound, to be sharp 
of scent, and to track the murder of those whose fate she 
will discover. 

cass. — Alas ! alas ! for I am persuaded by these proofs, 
the children weeping for their slaughter, and their roasted 
flesh on which a father fed. 

chorus. — We have been told, by report, of your fame in 
prophecy ; but we want not any prophets here. 

cass. — Woe ! woe ! What is this, ye Gods, that she is 
contriving ? What new and mighty calamity is she pre- 
paring in the house — what evil intolerable to her friends, 
and desperate beyond all cure ? But succour to save there 
is none near. 

chorus. — I am unable to comprehend these prophecies ; 
but I know your former meaning, for all the city resounds 
with the tale. 

cass. — Alas ! alas ! O wretched woman ! for thou art 
about to do the deed, after having refreshed in the bath 
the husband the partner of thy bed. How shall I tell the 
end? for this will quickly come. Lo! hand succeeding 
hand thrusts forth the eager blow ! 

chorus. — I do not yet understand: for now, in conse- 



AGAMEMNON. 153 

quence of their double meaning, I am bewildered by your 
obscure oracles. 

cass. — Ha! ha! Alas! alas! what is this I see before 
me ? Is it not some net of Hell ? Yes, and the partner 
of his bed is that net, she is the joint cause of his death. 
Now let the band of Furies, never sated with the blood of 
this race, ring forth their peean in joy at this horrid 
sacrifice. 

chorus. — What Furies are these that you call on to 
raise their wild scream in this house ? Your words bring 
no gladness to my aspect ; and the blood runs to my heart, 
changing from the red to the pale-yellow hue, such as to 
those who have fallen by the spear aids in extinguishing 
the rays of life's setting sun. But calamity quickly ap- 
proaches. 

cass. — Ha ! ha ! see there ! see there ! Keep away the 
Bull from the Heifer. Having entangled in the vest the 
black-horned Bull, she smites him with the deadly weapon, 
and he falls amid the waters of the bath. I tell you of the 
fortune of that cauldron reeking with the blood of as- 
sassination. 

chorus. — I cannot boast to be a skilful interpreter of 
oracles, but I conjecture that these denote some ill. From 
oracles, indeed, what promise of good ever comes to 
mortals ? The ambiguous arts of divination only force us 
to feel the terror of predicted evil. 

cass. — Alas ! for the ill-starred fortunes of me a wretched 
woman ! For I lament my own sufferings, adding them to 
mingle with his. Why hast thou brought me with all my 
sorrows hither ? For nothing but to die along with thee — 
for how otherwise can it be ? 

chorus. —You are maddened with a phrensy inflicted by 
Heaven ; and you utter concerning your own fate a strain 
whose notes should be unsung; like some dusky, bird, 
insatiate of wailing, that laments in bitter grief 'Itys, 1 
' Itys, 1 through a life that, alas, blooms but with misery 
— that bird the nightingale. 

cass. — OH ! would that the fate of the tuneful nightingale 



154 jESCHYLUS. 

were mine ! for the Gods have invested her with a winged 
form, and a life of sweet pleasures unstained by tears. 
But for me what remains, but the rending wound of the 
double-edged spear ? 

chorus. — Whence hast thou these visionary woes, burst- 
ing upon thee and maddening thee with their impulse ? 
Why dost thou sing of such images of terror with ill- 
omened voice, and at the same time in high-raised strains ? 
Whence is it that thou hast been led into those boundaries 
of the path of prophecy that only betoken ill ? 

cass. — Alas for the nuptials — the nuptials of Paris, so 
deadly to his friends ! Alas for the streams of my native 
Scamander ! Once was a time when I, doomed to misery, 
was reared to womanhood on thy banks: but now, rue- 
thinks, I shall soon raise my prophetic notes beside 
Cocytus and the shores of Acheron. 

chorus. — Why hast thou too clearly predicted these 
words ? A child might read their meaning. I am struck 
to the heart by a mortal pang as you pour forth your plain- 
tive strains, because of your hapless state, telling of 
griefs that it breaks my heart to hear. 

cass. — Alas for the sorrows, the sorrows of my native 
city that hath perished in utter ruin ! Alas for the sacri- 
fices with unsparing slaughtering of the pasturing herds 
offered by my father in behalf of our towers ! But no 
remedy availed to prevent the city from suffering all the 
woes under which it is now sunk ; and I — my mind still 
glowing with inspiration — shall soon dash my dying body 
on the ground. 

chorus. — You have uttered these words in consonance 
with your former predictions : and some spirit, urging 
you to thoughts of ill, and assailing you with over- 
powering influence, inspires you to sing of these sad 
and deadly sufferings. But I vainly strive to know 
the issue. 

cass. — Then, in truth, the oracle shall no longer look 
forth from behind the veil, like some new-married bride : 
but it seems as if, with violent gales, it would rush to the 



AGAMEMNON. 155 

rising of the sun, so as to dash, like the wave, with increas- 
ing flow towards the dawn of this calamity K But I will 
no longer instruct you by enigmas ; and do ye bear wit- 
ness to me, as I follow hard on their scent the steps of 
guilty deeds that were wrought of old. For there is a 
choir that never leaves this roof, accordant in their strains, 
and yet harsh to hear ; for their note is not of good. And 
having quaffed, till their daring waxed higher, the blood of 
man, the band of sister Furies prolong their revel in this 
house, refusing to depart without. As they sit around the 
domes, they chaunt as their song the first fatal source 2 of 
calamity to the race; and in turn they shudder, as they 
name the nuptial couch of a brother bringing cruel revenge 
on him who invaded it. Have I erred in my aim ; or, like 
some archers, has my arrow reached the prey ? Or am I 
false in my oracles, a strolling babbler of lies ? Bear me 
witness, by the pledge of an oath, that I have shewn in my 
words a true knowledge of the ancient crimes of these 
abodes. 

chorus. — And how, in such circumstances, could the 
sanction of an oath, though accorded without guile, have 
any healing power ? But I wonder that you, who have 
spent your life beyond the sea, in a city whose language is 
not ours, should speak of these events as if you had been 
present at their occurrence. 

cass. — The prophet Apollo appointed me to this office. 

chorus. — Was it because, even though a God, he owned 
the power of love ? 

(1) The beauty of this image can only be properly appreciated by those 
who have observed the extraordinary way in which the waves of the sea 
appear to rush towards the rising sun. 

(2) This is generally referred to the adultery of Thyestes with Aerope 
his brother's wife : but we are rather inclined to suppose, with Heath, that 
the crime indicated was the treacherous murder of Myrtilus by Pelops, 
from which flowed the discord of his sons, and, in fact, all the calamities of 
the devoted race. Cassandra, in the end of this speech, uses the plural 
ayuapTtia?, and must therefore be presumed to have before alluded to more 
than one transgression, in the strain which she ascribes to the Furies. 



156 jESCHYLUS. 

cass. — Before this time I felt ashamed to tell it. 

chorus. — That was because every one when in prospe- 
rity is so fastidious. 

cass. — Well, he struggled for my affections, and in- 
spired in me too deeply the raptures of love. 

chorus. — Did you ever join in that embrace that brings 
the fruits of love ? 

cass. — No ; for after having promised my consent, I de- 
ceived the God. 

chorus. — Were you at that time possessed by the power 
of inspiration ? 

cass. — I had already foretold all their calamities to my 
countrymen. 

chorus. — How, then, were you unpunished by the wrath 
of Apollo ? 

cass. — I persuaded no one of aught I said, from the time 
that I committed this offence. 

chorus. — To us, however, you appear to predict what 
is worthy of belief. 

cass. — Io ! Io ! Alas ! Alas what woes ! Again the fear- 
ful pains of inspired prophecy labour in my breast, wildly 
disturbing it with oracular preludes. See ye these infants 
that are seated on the roofs, resembling the phantoms of 
dreams ? They are children who were slain by those who 
should have loved them, bearing their hands filled with the 
food of their own flesh ; and you may mark them holding 
up their entrails and their bowels, a horrid repast on which 
a father fed. In consequence of these deeds, I declare 
that a certain unwarlike lion, wallowing, w^hile left to guard 
the house, in a wanton bed, is plotting revenge, ah me ! 
against my master on his return. My master ? Yes, for I 
am forced to bear the yoke of slavery. He, the leader of 
the fleet, and the destroyer of Ilium, knows not what the 
tongue of that hateful bitch, after having spoken and pro- 
longed its words with the semblance of joy, will, like some 
hidden Fiend, prepare for his disastrous fate. Such are 
the deeds she dares : a female is the slayer of the male. 
Calling her what loathsome monster shall I name her 



AGAMEMNON. 157 

aright — an amphisbaena, or a Scylla that dwells amid the 
rocks for the destruction of the mariner, the raving dam of 
Hell, a Fury breathing against her friends the implacable 
rage of war ? How in her fearless audacity did she raise 
the shout of triumph over him, as if in the moment when 
the battle gives way ! But she appears to rejoice in his 
safe return. And if I fail to persuade you of what I have 
declared, it is all one. For why ? that which must be, will 
come ; and you, ere long, oeing present, will say of me 
with pity, that I was too true a prophetess. 

chorus. — Of the banquest of Thyestes on the flesh of 
his children I have heard, and shuddered to hear ; and fear 
seizes me as I now listen to that which bears no slight re- 
semblance to the truth. But as to the rest which I heard, 
I run bewildered astray from the course. 

cass. — I say, that you shall see the death of Agamemnon. 

chorus. — O wretched woman ! lull your ill-omened 
tongue to silence. 

cass. — Why? since there is no healing power to con- 
troul what I have foretold. 

chorus. — Not if it shall take place : but may Heaven in 
some way avert it ! 

cass. — You indeed offer your prayers, but they are 
intent on the murder. 

chorus. — By what man is this execrable deed projected ? 

cass. — Have you glanced so far wide of the meaning of 
my oracles ? 

chorus. — For I have not understood the device of the 
assassin. 

cass. — And yet you know full well the Grecian tongue. 

chorus. — The oracles of Apollo, too, are in Greek, and 
yet they are hard to be understood. 

cass. — Alas ! what a flame ! and it is rushing on me ! 
Alas ! alas ! O Lycaean Apollo ! Ah me ! Ah me! She, 
the biped lioness, that bedded with the wolf in the absence 
of the generous lion, will slay me, a wretched victim ; and, 
like one who prepares a poison, she will add to the phial 
of her wrath the reward of his love for me. She vaunts, 



158 yESCHYLUS. 

as she whets the sword against her husband, that she will 
make him atone with his life for having brought me 
hither. Why then do I retain the mockery of these orna- 
ments l , the wand, and the wreaths of a prophetess around 
my neck ? I will yet work your destruction before my own 
death. Away with ye, and perish ! dashed at least to earth 
by my hands : thus will I requite you. Enrich with your 
baneful gifts some other votary, in place of me. And lo ! 
Apollo himself disrobing me of my prophetic garb ! And 
thou couldest, unmoved, behold me derided even in these 
ornaments, derided among my friends, and in no dubious 
way by my enemies. But called a mad stroller, like some 
conjuress, poor, wretched, and perishing with hunger, I 
endured it all. And now the prophet, divesting me of the 
honours of his prophetess, hath led me into these fatal cir- 
cumstances ; and in place of the altar at which my father 
fell, the block awaits me, to perish by the death-wound 
amid my reeking gore. But we shall not die, however, un- 
revenged by the Gods : for again shall there come another, 
to exact retribution for our fate — a son, to slay his mother, 
and be the avenger of his father. He, a wandering exile, 
long estranged from the land, returns to complete the 
parapet 2 of ruin for his race ; for a mighty oath hath been 



(l) " Quandb sunt morituri, omnia prius ornamenta et officii sui in- 
signia, ne hoc habitu moriantur abjicere facit iEschylus. Similia psene de 
Amphiarao vate jam jam absorbendo canit Statius Papinius, extremo sep- 

timo : 

Audio jam rapidse cursum Stygis atraque Ditis 

Flumina, tergeminosque mali custodis hiatus. 

Accipe commissum capiti decus, accipe lauros, 

Quas Erebo deferre nefas : nunc voce suprema 

Deceptum tibi, Phoebe larem, poenasque nefandse 

Conjugis et pulchrum nati commendo furorem. 
Euripides quoque Troad. hujus rei dederat exemplum." — Canter. A'or. 
Led. III. 9. 

(2) " QpiyKol sunt domus vel muri pinnacula, sive mines ; ita dpiyt<6<a est 
coronam vel fastigium wdificio imponere. Revera enim Orestes coronidem 
calamitatibus Pelopidarum imposuit ; facinusque ab eo patratnm ultimum 
erat istius domus infortunium." — Heath. 



AGAMEMNON. 159 

sworn by the Gods, that the prostrate body of his mur- 
dered father shall recall him. Yet why should I, who am 
but a stranger in this house, thus lament, since I have 
before seen the city of Ilium suffering as it suffered, and 
since they who dwell within its walls have thus had their 
doom assigned by the judgment of the Gods ? I will go 
and meet my fate ; I will dare to die : and I further adjure 
these gates of Hades, and pray that I may meet with a 
well-sped blow, so that without a struggle, my life-blood 
flowing easily away, I may close these eyes. 

chorus. — O maiden, exceeding in sorrow as in wisdom, 
you have extended your words to a long discourse : but if 
you know truly your own fate, how, like the steer, led by 
heavenly impulse to the sacrifice, do you advance so 
boldly to the altar ? 

cass. — There is no more escape gained, O strangers, by 
putting off the time. 

chorus. — But the latest moment of time is the best. 

cass. — The fated day is come: I shall gain little by 
flight. 

chorus. — But know, that you suffer from the too rash 
courage of your mind. 

cass. — But a glorious death is grateful to mortals. 

chorus. — No one hears such sentiments from the happy. 

cass. — Alas ! my father, for thee and for thy high-born 
race! 

chorus. — What may this mean? What terror makes 
thee recoil ? 

cass. — Oh horror ! horror ! 

chorus. — Why hast thou uttered this exclamation, except 
there be the feelings of horror in your heart ? 

cass. — This house breathes the scent of the dripping 
gore of murder. 

chorus. — And how should such an odour arise from the 
sacrifices consuming on the altar ? 

cass. — The vapour is like that from the charnel-house. 

chorus. — -You tell of no delight of Syrian fragrance 
within these walls. 



160 ^SCHYLUS. 

cass. — But I go to bewail, even in the house, my own 
fate, and that of Agamemnon. Let the period of life that 
hath been assigned me suffice. O strangers! I do not 
yield to any fruitless fear, like the bird when beset in the 
brake. Bear witness for me of this, when for me, a woman, 
shall a woman die, and for a man ill-starred in his nuptials 
shall fall a man. As now about to die, I will ask this 
friendly office at your hands. 

chorus. — O unhappy sufferer ! I pity thee on account of 
thy predicted fate. 

cass. — Yet once more I would utter the words or notes 
of my own dirge ; and pray to the Sun, even to these the 
last of his beams I shall behold, that my avengers may 
wreak a like destruction on both my hateful murderers at 
once, in return for me who a captive die, an unresisting 
victim. Alas for the fortunes of mankind ! In prosperity, 
a shadow can throw them to the ground ; and should they 
pass through adversity, a moistened sponge at a touch 
effaces the impression : and I lament more for the latter 
evil than the former 1 . 

chorus.— It is in the nature of prosperity not to cause 
satiety to any of mankind ; and no one excludes with re- 
pulse the man of note from his house, saying, Enter not 
here. Thus to our king the Gods have granted that he 
should take the city of Priam ; and honoured of Heaven he 
returns home. But now, if he shall atone for the blood 
previously shed by his race, and dying, in addition to the 
dead, shall cause the consummation of the penalties and 
judgments of other deaths, who of mortals, as he hears this 
tale, would not pray to have been born beneath the in- 
fluence of a more harmless fortune ? 

(l) It is more to be lamented that man should derive no lasting im- 
pression from adversity, than that his prosperity should be fleeting and 
unstable. This fine reflection of Cassandra has been misunderstood by all 
the commentators, except Schiitz. The translation of Mr. Symmons omits 
all notice of the last line of the speech ; and, in fact,;he would have found 
it difficult to have reconciled it with his mistaken view of the preceding 
sentiment. * 



AGAMEMNON. 161 

agam. — Oh me ! I am pierced ! I feel the mortal wound. 

chorus 1. — Hush! Who shrieks of his wound, being 
stabbed by a weapon thrust home ? 

agam. — Oh me again ! I am a second time struck ! 

chorus 2. — It appears to me, from the cries of the king, 
that the deed has been perpetrated. 

chorus 3. — But how shall we concert safe counsels * ? 

chorus 4. — I indeed declare to you my opinion, to call 
on the citizens to bring assistance hither to the palace. 

chorus 5. — But to me it appears that we ought to break 
in with all haste, and convict the deed, while the sword yet 
reeks with blood. 

chorus 6.— I too, agreeing in the same opinion, give my 
vote that we bestir ourselves ; for this is not the moment 
for delay. 

chorus 7. — That is evident ; for they exhibit symptoms 
as if they would set up the ensigns of tyranny in the city. 

chorus 8. — Because we delay ; while they, treading un- 
der foot the character of delay, do not slumber in action. 

chorus 9. — I know not what counsel I can fall upon to 

(l) Mr. Symmons has attempted an explanation, or rather justification, 
of this absurd scene ; in which of course he fails, with all his learning, to 
make his argument good. We admit the fact, that the Chorus could not 
leave the stage, to the assistance of Agamemnon ; but it surely was not 
imperative that they should talk nonsense if they stayed. Why, if all the 
audience knew that they could not stir from the Thymele, should they 
even propose to rush into the palace ? Dr. Butler has observed the incon- 
gruities of the passage, and has judiciously remarked: "Nihil certe verius 
quam senibus dilationem convenire ; sed, ut libere loquar quid sentiam, 
crediderim iEschylum hoc loco non tam ejus quod personam cuique conve- 
niret, quam legis ex natura sibi impositse studiosum fuisse. Et quod illi 
laudi vertunt Stanl. et Schiitz, vereor ne id vitio vertendum fuerit. Quid 
enim frigidius, quid ipsi naturse repugnantius, quam dum regem auxilium 
invocantem audiunt, Chorum quid agendum sit deliberare? Heec est ne 
senibus quidem digna cunctatio, at gemellum habes locum apud Eurip. 
Med. v. 1283. ubi Chorus, auditis puerorum quos Medea trucidat excla- 
mationibus, similiter deliberat. Ortum hoc apud utrumque ex necessi- 
tate sibi imposita ut Chorus e scena, non exiret ; quam quidem legem 
cum suis laborare incommodis uterque sentiret, earn tamen contra naturae 
ipsius fidem servandam sibi constituerunt." 

M 



162 ^ISCHYLUS. 

suggest. But we may also take some measures respecting 
the murderer. 

chorus 10. — I am of the same opinion ; since I am at a 
loss how we can by words again raise the dead to life. 

chorus 11. — And shall we, dragging out our lives, thus 
yield to the polluters of this house to be our masters ? 

chorus 1 2. — No, it is not to be borne : it were better to 
die, for death is a milder fate than submission to tyranny. 

chorus 13. — Shall we infer, by the proofs of his shrieks, 
that the king then has perished ? 

chorus 14. — We ought to speak of such an event from 
clear information; for conjecture is very different from 
certain knowledge. 

chorus 15. — I am in every way much induced to accord 
with this opinion, to learn clearly how the son of Atreus is 
situated. 

clytem. — Many things having been before said by me 
to suit the time, I shall not now blush to declare the con- 
trary. For why not ? Who would not, when preparing 
hostile designs against enemies who seem to be friends, 
fence around them the toils of destruction to a height that 
no bound could hope to clear ? But to me this strife of 
victory, arising from an ancient cause, and not unpremedi- 
tated of old, hath now, though late, arrived. I stood where 
I struck him, after the deed was done 1 . And so I did it, 

( 1 ) " These hands have struck the blow ! 

'Tis like the deeds that have been done of yore ! 
Past ! and my feet are now upon the spot ! 
Thus have I translated in three lines, without adding a single idea, the 
single line, 

r/ E(TTt]Ka tfevO' eTrcno-' e7r' ej-etpyao-mevoK;. 

One of the causes of the misunderstanding this line, is its brevity and its 
interruptions ; and the critics have not observed that it is a soliloquy, and 
not part of the narrative. Clytemnestra advances on the stage, firm in 
resolution, yet full of horror at the deed she had been committing, partly 
soliloquizing, partly addressing the Chorus. The line in question is a 
soliloquy, broken, interrupted, with long intervening pauses, and should 

not 



AGAMEMNON. 163 

and I will not deny it, that he could neither shun nor avert 
his fate. I fix around him a net without an outlet, like 
that of fishes, the baneful splendour of the robe ; and I 
strike him twice, and after two groans he let sink his 
relaxing limbs. Then, as he lay on the ground, I inflict 
in addition a third wound, a votive boon to Pluto, that 
guards the dead below the earth. Thus having fallen, he 
breathes away his life ; and sending forth in gushes the 
bubbling blood from his death-wound, he strikes me with 
the dark drops of that bloody dew — me who rejoiced in it, 
no less than the cultured field in the sparkling shower 
bestowed by Heaven what time the ear bursts into life. — 
Since this is so, ye senators of Argos, ye may rejoice, if ye 
be disposed to joy ; for I glory in the deed. And if it were 
fitting to pour libations over a dead body, this would with 
justice have here been done. For he having filled a cup 
of such accursed calamities in the house, himself most 
justly is forced to drain it on his return. 

chorus. — We are amazed at thee ! How audacious thou 
art in thy language, who boastest over the body of thy 
husband in terms like these ! 

clytem. — Ye try me as if I were a woman weak in 
judgment ; but I, with fearless heart, say to you who know 
me — and whether you choose to praise or blame me it is all 
one — here lies Agamemnon, my husband, dead, the work 
of this right-hand, the executioner of justice. And these 
things are even so. 

chorus. — Having tasted, O woman, what poison either 
of solid substance produced by the earth or liquid de- 
rived from the tides of the sea, have you invested yourself 
with this phrensy, and with the curses murmured by the 
people ? You have laid prostrate and slain your victim ; 
and you shall be driven from the city, an object of violent 
hate to the citizens. 

not be printed as if it were in the plain continuity of narrative, but, 

E(rrt]Ka <? evd' eirai<r' eir' e^eipyaa-fxevoiq ." Symmons. 

This notion is altogether fanciful ; but as it is poetical, and at all events 
original, we have quoted it for the gratification of the reader. 

M 2 



164 iESCHYLUS. 

clytem. — Now, indeed, ye doom me banishment from 
the city, and the hatred of the citizens, and the murmured 
curses of the people — ye, who offered no opposition to this 
man at the time when, regarding her life no more than that 
of one of the sheep that abounded in his fleecy pastures, 
he gave to the sacrifice his own child, the dearest offspring 
of my throes, to be a charm to soothe the blasts of Thrace. 
Was it not fitting that you should have driven him in exile 
from the land, as a punishment for this polluted deed? 
But hearing my deeds, you are stern in condemning them. 
But I tell you this — since I am prepared to threaten on 
equal grounds — to prescribe terms to me when you have 
conquered me by strength ; but if the God shall decree the 
contrary, you shall be taught by experience, though late, 
the wisdom of submission. 

chorus. — You are aspiring in your thoughts, and have 
spoken the words of arrogance. Your soul is still mad- 
dened, as in the midst of gore and slaughter. A spot of 
unavenged blood still marks your brow. It will yet be 
your fate, deprived of friends, to repay blow for blow. 

clytem. — You shall hear then this, my solemn oath: 
By the full vengeance I have taken for my child, by Ate 
and Erinnys, to whom I devoted this victim, I have no ex- 
pectation to tread the courts of Fear, as long as ^Egisthus 
shall burn a fire on my hearth, retaining towards me his 
former affection ; for he is to me no feeble buckler of con- 
fidence. Here lies the man, the polluter of this damsel, 
the lavisher of his blandishments to every Chryseis be- 
neath the walls of Troy — and here, by his side, lies the 
captive Prophetess, that shared his bed, his faithful sooth- 
saying paramour, and the common trull of the benches of 
the mariners. But they have not done me unrequited 
wrongs : for he, indeed, has thus met his fate ; and she, his 
lover, having chaunted like a swan her last funeral dirge, 
there lies low ; and to me her death hath brought the late 
enjoyment of my wanton couch 1 . 

(1) Blomfield has not favoured us with any interpretation of this pas- 
sage, although it is decidedly one of the most obscure in the play. We 



AGAMEMNON. 165 

sem. — Alas ! Would that a speedy fate, not racking with 
pain, nor confining to the sick-bed, would come and bring 
us the sleep that never ends ! our kind guardian being 
laid low, and having endured many trials on account of a 
woman — and by a woman's hand he has lost his life. 

chorus. — Ah! frantic Helen, that in thy single self 
wert the cause of many and many a life being lost beneath 
the walls of Troy ! 

sem. — And now thou hast cut off in the flower of man- 
hood an illustrious life by a deed of inexpiable bloody 
thou who wast, from the first, in the house the cause of 
fiercest strife and of sorrow to its lord. 

clytem.— Do not pray for the fate of death through 
grief at these events ; nor turn your wrath against Helen, 
that she was the destroyer of men, that having alone 
caused the death of many a Grecian warrior she gave birth 
to an incurable woe. 

sem. — O demon, whose wrath falls heavy on the house 
and the two descendants of Tantalus, thou hast strengthened 
to my sorrow in the female breast a power that equals 
the daring of man 1 ! Having taken her stand over his 

are not by any means satisfied with our own translation, in which we 
have nearly followed that of Butler : " Jacet hujus amasia, et morte sua 
mihi prater spem attulit cupedias ad lecti rnei voluptatem," Wellauer 
has a way of his own, but his mjfening is a mystery : " irapo\j/cov7jfxa evvfj<; 
est gaudium, quod ex ejus morte seu sepulchro (sic evvrj Soph. El. 429) 
capitur, irapo\jfcovt]^a x^-^w gaudium, quod ad priores delicias accedit." 
Mr. Symmons is clearly wrong : 

" His love ! his beauty ! 'Twas to me he brought 
This piece of daintiness, to cheat my bed.' 1 
Cassandra must surely, in any case, be the nominative to eTrrjyayev as well 
as to Kelrai. 

(1) " Haec si satis salva sint habenda ad utramque Helenam et Cly- 
temnestram traherem prsesertim cum 8i<pvei<ri prsecesserit. Habent enim, 
ni fallor, comparationem malorum quae Atreo et Thyestse illata sunt, cum 
iis quae per Helenam et Clytemnestram Menelao et Agamemnoni conti- 
gerunt. Id notat vox i<ro\fsvxov, quae h. 1. nihil aliud quam simpl. iVov, par 
vel simile valet. Verterim igitur, O Genie, qua in hasce domos et geminos 
Tantalidas (Atreum et Thyestem) gravis incumbis, par robur jam per fcemi- 
nas (Hel. scilicet et Clytemnestram) quo mihi cor angitur, exerces" — Butler. 



166 ^ESCHYLUS. 

body, like some hateful raven, she boasts that she will 
ehaunt a discordant strain. 

clytem. — Now thou hast uttered a juster sentiment 
from thy lips, in arraigning the tremendous fiend of this 
race: for it is by him that the thirst for lapping gore 
has been made to rage in our bowels. Before the ancient 
wounds are staunched, fresh blood flows. 

sem. — You assent to its being the mighty fiend who 
visits this house with his heavy wrath — alas ! alas ! an evil 
assent to fatal and insatiable calamity. Alas ! alas ! it pro- 
ceeds from Jove, the first and last cause of every event : 
for what among mortals comes to its completion without 
the will of Jove ? Which of these deeds hath not been 
ratified by Heaven ? 

chorus. — Alas ! alas ! my king, my king, how shall I 
lament thee ? What wailings shall I pour forth, from the 
affection of my soul ? Ah ! here thou liest, in this woven 
work of Arachne, having breathed forth thy life by an 
impious murder. 

sem. — Ah me ! Ah me ! Lowly thou liest on no kingly 
couch, slain by an assassin's deed, with the double-edged 
axe wielded in the hand. 

clytem. — You assert justly that this was my deed ; but 
do not add that I am the wife of Agamemnon. For it was 
the ancient furious fiend of Atreus, the ruthless banqueter, 
that, having come in apparition like to the wife of this 
dead man, cut him off, sacrificing a full-grown victim in 
addition to the babes. 

sem. — Who will attest that thou art guiltless of this 
murder? How, how can it be ? Perchance the avenging 
Spirit of his ancestry might assist in the deed. For Mars 
is urged on in these miseries by the streams of kindred 
blood; and there is a point to which advancing he will 
even freeze with horror ' him who fed on his children. 

chorus. — Alas ! alas ! my king, my king, how shall I 

(l) We have no hesitation in adopting trdxvav as the true reading, both 
because it is required by the sense of the passage, and lias been sanctioned 
by the very best authorities. 



AGAMEMNON. 167 

lament thee ? What wailings shall I pour forth, from the 
affection of my soul ? Ah ! here thou liest, in this woven 
work of Arachne, having breathed forth thy life by an im- 
pious murder. 

sem. — Ah me ! Ah me ! Lowly thou liest on no kingly 
couch, slain by an assassin's deed, with the double-edged 
axe wielded in the hand. 

clytem. — I do not deem that his death was ignominious : 
for did he not cause a treacherous calamity to his house ? 
But having done undeserved wrong to my offspring sprung 
from his embrace, the much-lamented Iphigenia, and hav- 
ing met with a deserved return, let him not proudly boast 
in Hades, sinfce by the death of the murderous sword he 
hath atoned for the injuries which he inflicted. 

sem. — I am perplexed, through want of judgment, in what 
way I shall turn my anxious and subtle thought so as to 
bring relief amid the ruin of this house. I tremble to hear 
the splashing of the shower of blood that shakes these 
walls ; for it falls no longer in drops. And Fate for another 
baneful deed is sharpening the edge of vengeance on a 
fresh whetstone. 

chorus. — O earth! earth! would that thou hadst en- 
tombed me, before that I had seen him laid in the lowly 
bed of the silver-encircled bath ! Who will bury him — 
who bewail him ? Will you dare, after having slain your 
husband, to lament his death, and impiously bestow this 
thankless favour in atonement of your atrocious deeds ? 

sem. — But who uttering with tears the funeral eulogy of 
this godlike hero will exert himself in the task with 
sincerity of feeling ? 

clytem. — It pertains not to thee to speak of this office : 
by us he fell, he died — and we will bury him — not with 
lamentations issuing from these walls ; but Iphigenia, 
having come forth to meet her father, as she ought, beside 
the rapid flow of the streams of sorrow, and having thrown 
her arms affectionately around him, will greet him with 
a daughter's kiss. 

sem. — This reproach succeeds to reproach : but of these 



168 .ESCHYLUS. 

things it is difficult to judge what will be the issue. The 
spoiler is spoiled, the slayer is slain. And this law re- 
mains, while Jove remains, that sooner or later the guilty 
shall suffer in return. Who, then, shall banish from this 
house the imprecated succession of calamities authorised 
by Heaven ? Its race is fast bound in misery. 

chorus. — O earth! earth! would that thou hadst en- 
tombed me, before that I had seen him laid in the lowly 
bed of the silver-encircled bath! Who will bury him? 
who bewail him ? Will you dare, after having slain your 
husband, to lament his death, and impiously bestow this 
thankless favour in atonement of your atrocious deeds ? 

sem. — But who uttering with tears the funeral eulogy 
of this godlike hero will exert himself in the task with 
sincerity of feeling ? 

clytem. — He met, as justice required, with this pro- 
phetic doom. But I now wish, having made a league with 
the fiend of the Pleisthenidae, to resign myself to these 
present woes, though hard to be endured ; but that for the 
future, departing from this house, he wear out some other 
race by kindred murders. And it will quite suffice for me 
if I retain but a small portion of our wealth, and succeed 
in removing from these abodes the madness of mutual 
slaughters. 

jEGISTHUS. 

O gladdening light of this avenging day ' ! Now would 
I say, that the Gods on high, exacting retribution from 
mortals, looked down on the pollutions of the earth ; since 
I behold, to my joy, this man outstretched in the enfolding 
tissue of the Furies, repaying by his death the treacherous 
deeds of his father's hands. For Atreus his father, the 
Ruler of this land, being at contention about the sovereignty 
with Thyestes my father — and, to explain it clearly, his 

(1) "iEgistbi personam, quamvis in ipso fine dramatis, miro cum arti- 
ficio depinxit iEschylus, prosperis in rebus insolentem, sua ipsius scelera 
speciosa retributionis nomine obtegentem, quin et divinam quoque justitiam 
secum facere fingentem, et adversus imbelles senes, quod pravitatis et igna- 
viai certissimum indicium est, jactantiorem." — Butler. 



AGAMEMNON. 169 

own brother — expelled him from his country and his home. 
And the wretched Thyestes, returning again a suppliant 
at the altar, gained thereby a safe protection, so that he 
should not himself, dying, stain with his blood the pave- 
ment of his fathers house. But Atreus, the impious father 
of this man, with seeming courtesy rather than friendship, 
appearing to celebrate joyfully a day of feasting in welcome 
of my father, gave him to feed on the flesh of his children. 
Sitting aloof in secret, he minced the extremities of the 
feet and the ends of the fingers ; and Thyestes, straightway 
taking through ignorance the disguised fragments, ate a 
banquet that you see has proved the cause of unsparing 
ruin to his race. Afterwards, when he knew too late the 
unnatural deed, he shrieked, and falls backward, disgorg- 
ing the bloody feast: and he imprecates an intolerable 
destiny on the Pelopidae, justly consigning to curses the 
outrage of that banquet, that by a like fate might the 
whole race of Pleisthenes perish. In consequence, you 
behold this man laid low before you ; and I with justice 
have devised his death. For he drove me out, along with 
my wretched father, being his thirteenth child, and yet a 
babe in swaddling-clothes : but Justice restored me, when 
reared to manhood. And though I was not present, yet I 
reached this man, having combined against him all the 
stratagems of hostile counsel. Thus even death would 
seem glorious to me, now that I have seen him subdued in 
the toils of Vengeance. 

chorus. — iEgisthus, I do not approve of insolence in a 
coward : but do you avow that you wilfully slew this man, 
and alone plotted the death that was dealt on him ? I say, 
that you may be assured your head shall not escape the 
execrations of the people, and the volleys of stones hurled 
against you in just punishment. 

jEgisthus. — Do you, who sit at the lowest oar, utter these 
threats against your masters in the high station of the 
vessel ? You shall learn, being an old man, how grievous 
it is for one of your years to be taught that you are 
deficient in wisdom : for chains, and the pangs of famine, 



170 iESCHYLUS. 

are physicians of the mind, the most skilful in divining a 
remedy to instruct even old age. Looking at this example, 
do you not perceive my meaning ? Do not kick against 
pricks, lest striking them you suffer injury. 

chorus. — O woman! didst thou, the guardian of the 
house of this man who but lately returned from the war, 
after dishonouring his bed, also devise this death against a 
the hero the leader of armies ? 

^igisthus. — These words, too, will be the cause to you of 
sorrow. But you have a tongue unlike that of Orpheus : 
for he, indeed, drew every thing after him by the rapture 
inspired by his voice ; whilst you, having provoked even 
the mild by your barkings, will hurry them away. But 
being overcome, we shall see you more peaceable. 

chorus. — Shalt thou, forsooth, be king of the Argives, 
who after having plotted the death of this man, hadst not 
courage to do the deed with thy own hand ? 

jEgisthus. — Because guile was obviously the province 
of a woman, and I was, of old, a suspected enemy. But 
by means of his wealth, I will endeavour to rule the 
citizens ; and I will bind to a heavy yoke the unruly and 
pampered colt that refuses to run in my harness; and 
hateful hunger, dwelling with him in darkness, shall soon 
see him tamed. 

chorus. — Why didst thou not dare, in thy coward soul, 
to slay this man with thy own hand ? but a woman, the 
pollution of her country and her country's Gods, deprived 
him of life. Does Orestes then somewhere behold the 
light, that, returning hither with favouring fortune, he may 
prove the all-conquering slayer of this guilty pair ? 

^egisthus. — But if ye are determined to act and speak in 
this manner, ye shall quickly feel 

chorus. — What ho ! my dear comrades, the struggle is 
at hand ! 

jEGISTHUS. — ******* 

chorus. — What ho ! let every one lightly wield his un- 
sheathed sword. 

jsgisthus. — I too, with sword in hand, will not refuse to die. 



AGAMEMNON. 171 

chorus. — You have said you will die to us who accept 
the omen : but let us put our fortunes to the question. 

clytem. — By no means, O dearest of men, let us do 
further harm! for even to have reaped thus much is a 
harvest of bitter misery. There is already enough of 
woe : let us shed no more blood. But go now, old men, to 
your several homes, before ye suffer from your attempts. 
It was fated that we should undertake what we have done : 
and if there be sorrow to any one in consequence, we too 
have enough of this, being struck calamitously by the 
heavy wrath of the deity. Such is the advice of a woman, 
if any one deign to listen to it. 

jegisthus. — But that they should thus scatter against 
me the flowers of their empty speech, and vent such words, 
tempting their fate, and should err from temperate discre- 
tion against me their master 

chorus. — It never can be in the nature of an Argive to 
fawn on a base man. 

.egisthus. — But I shall yet get at you, on some future day. 

chorus. — Not if the God shall direct the steps of 
Orestes hither. 

^gisthus. — I know that exiles feed on hope. 

chorus. — Go on ; batten on your guilt ; and pollute 
justice ; since now the power is granted to you. 

^gisthus. — Know, that you shall yet pay me the penalty 
of this folly. 

chorus. — Boast without fear, like the cock beside his 
dame. 

clytem. — Do not regard these vain barkings: you and 
I, bearing the sway in this house, will order all its affairs 
aright. 



THE CHOEPHORJE. 



PERSONS OF THE DRAMA. 



ORESTES. 

ELECTRA. 

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

^GISTHUS. 

PYLADES. 

NURSE. 

SERVANT. 

CHORUS. 



THE CHOEPHORvE. 



ORESTES. 

1 O Mercury, God of the shades and guardian of thy 
Fathers realms 2 , do thou prove a preserver and an ally to 
me thy suppliant ! for I come and return from exile to this 
land; and on this mound of his sepulchre I invoke my 
father to listen, to hear ***** 
On his tomb I offer this ringlet, which I cherished for 
Inachus ; and this a second gift, in token of my sorrow 
******* But what do 
T behold ? What is this band of women that approaches, 
arrayed in sable garments ? to what event shall I ascribe 
their appearance? Whether has some new death oc- 
curred in this house ? or am I right in conjecturing that 
they are bearing libations to my father, the offerings that 
soothe the dead ? It can be nothing else ; for I think 
that I see my sister Electra advancing, conspicuous by the 
excess of her sorrow. O Jove, give me to revenge the 
death of a father, and do thou willingly vouchsafe thy aid 
to my cause ! Pylades, let us stand aside, that I may 

(1) Aristophanes has censured the ambiguities and tautologies of this 
prologue, in an amusing dialogue in the Frogs, v. 1150. The speakers are 
Euripides and iEschylus; and it is of course the part of the latter to 
defend himself against the criticisms of his rival. 

(2) "In verbis Trarpcp eiroTrrevoiv Kpdrtj ambiguitatem qusesivit apud 
Aristophanem Euripides, quse neque editores non fefellit, possunt enim 
ilia significare aut : qui patris mei imperium respicis, aut qui officio, ct patre 
tuo tibi tradita exsequeris. Priorem explicationem admodiim ineptam, 
quam joci causa Euripidi tribuit Aristophanes, veram putant Schiitz et 
Butler., altera verb quam apud Aristophanem Eschylus ipse profert, unice 
vera et sensui accommodata est." — Wellauer. 



176 iESCHYLUS. 

clearly learn what is the object of this suppliant band of 
women. 

CHORUS. 

I have been sent from the palace to conduct the libation 
to the tomb with the impetuous beating of the hand. My 
cheek is marked with the blood-streaming wound, the 
fresh-ploughed furrow of the nail 1 : my heart for ever 
lives but on the food of sorrow; and the rent that destroys 
the tissue of the robe hath been severed in my grief, the 
folds that deck my bosom disparting through these gloomy 
calamities. For terror thrilling through the stiffened hair, 
presaging by dreams in the palace, and breathing his 
dread influence on sleep, fearfully awoke in the centre of 
our dwelling a midnight cry as he descended with all his 
horrors on the chambers of the women : and the interpre- 
ters of these dreams have, under solemn oath, announced 
from Heaven, that those beneath the earth are strongly 
moved with indignation and wrath against their mur- 
derers. The impious woman (O mother Earth !) sends 
me on this mission, seeking by such a thankless offering to 
avert her ills. But I fear to utter the words that she 
bade; for what can cleanse the stain of blood that hath 
been shed on the ground ! Alas for this hearth, devoted 
to sorrow ! alas for this house, that must sink in ruin ! A 
sunless and abhorred gloom hath involved its walls since 
the day that its master died. And the majesty invincible, 
unconquered and irresistible of old, that was renowned in 
the discourse and in the recollections of his people, hath 
now departed ; and every one is afraid. But good fortune 
is both a God among mortals ; and more than a God : for 
the sudden vengeance of justice visits some indeed in the 
day ; while on others, gathering force by the delay, it bursts 

(l) " Sic Ceres apud Claudian. de raptu Proserp. v. 425 : 

Accipe, quas merui poenas ; en ora fatiscunt 
Vulneribus, grandesque rubent in pectore sulci. 
Immemor en uterus crebro contunditur ictu. 
Simplicius extulit Euripide, Electr. 147. Kara <pi\av owxi re/jivofjieva Sepav."' 

SCBUTZ. 



THE CHOEPHOR^. 177 

forth at the twilight ; and others it makes its prey amid the 
deepest shades of night. On account of the blood ab- 
sorbed by the bounteous earth, there has been decreed an 
avenging slaughter, which will not pass away. The direst 
of visitations shall destroy the guilty cause of the disease 
by which we are pervaded. For to him that violates the 
nuptial chamber there is no salvation ; and all the rivers, 
flowing in one channel, would flow in vain to wash the 
stain of murder from the polluted hand 1 . But to me (for 
the Gods have reduced me to the fate of captivity, and far 
from the home of my fathers have forced me into a servile 
state) it is bitter to praise the deeds, right or wrong, of 
those who rule with violence, submitting in a manner un- 
worthy of my earlier life, and suppressing by force the 
strong abhorrence of my soul. But I weep beneath my 
garments for the unavenged calamities of my masters, and 
my soul is congealed by its secret sorrows. 

ELECTRA. 

Ye captive maids, whose task it is to deck the chambers, 
since ye are here with me as conductors of these offerings, 
assist me with your advice in what I am about to inquire 
of you. As I pour forth on the tomb the libations of his 
kindred, how shall I say what is grateful to the dead ? how 
shall I invoke the shade of my father ? Shall I say that I 
bear these offerings to a beloved husband, from a loving wife 
— from my mother ? I have not the heart to utter it ; nor 
do I know what I can say, as I pour this thick libation on 
the tomb of my father. Or shall I speak these words as is 
the custom of mortals 2 , that he recompense those who send 
these garlands with a gift befitting their evil deeds ? Or 
silently and ignominiously, as my father perished, having 

(l) " Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood 

Clean from my hand ? No, this my hand will rather 
The multitudinous sea incarnadine, 

Making the green one red." Macbeth, Act II. 1. 

2. " Pertinet ad jus talionis inter homines receptum ; non ut Stanl. 
putabat ad morem inter effundendam libationem manes defuncti allo- 
quendi." — Schutz. 

n" 



178 AESCHYLUS. 

poured forth the libation on the thirsty earth, shall I 
return, like one having emptied filth, casting away the 
vessel with averted eyes? Assist me, O friends, in this 
counsel ; for we entertain a common hatred in the house. 
Conceal not your sentiments within your hearts, through 
fear of any one : for the decree of fate awaits alike the 
free, and the slave who is subject to another's hand. 
Speak, if you know any better counsels than these. 

chorus. — Reverencing as an altar the tomb of your 
father, I will speak, since you desire it, the sentiments of 
my mind. 

electra. — Speak then, as you reverence the tomb of my 
father. 

chorus. — Pray, as you pour forth the libation, for 
blessings to those who favour his cause. 

electra. — But who are those that I should name as his 
friends ? 

chorus. — First, indeed, yourself, and whoever hates 
i^Egisthus. 

electra. — Shall I make this prayer, then, both for my- 
self and you ? 

chorus. — Do you consider yourself as already acquainted 
with this. 

electra.' — Whom besides, then, shall I add to this 
band? 

chorus. — Forget not Orestes, even though he be far away. 

electra. — You suggest this well, and have wisely in- 
structed me. 

chorus. — Next for the guilty, mindful of the murder. 

electra. — What shall I pray? teach, and inform my 
ignorance. 

chorus. — That there should come to them some deity, 
or some mortal 

electra. — Whether do you mean as a judge or as an 
avenger ? 

chorus. — Say simply, one who shall slay in return. 

ei :ctra. — Is it consistent with religion for me to ask 
such things from the Gods ? 



THE CHOEPHOR^. 179 

chorus. — How not ? to repay an enemy with evils '. 

electra. — O Mercury, God of the shades, come and 
proclaim to me that the Powers beneath the earth, the 
guardians of my father's house, hear my prayers ; and Earth 
herself, who gives birth to all things, and having nourished 
them again receives their increase ! And I, as I pour 
forth these lustral waters for mortals, pray, invoking my 
father, that he will pity me and the dear Orestes, so that 
we may again reign in his palace. For now we wander, 
being sold, as it were, by our mother ; and she has taken in 
exchange, as a husband, iEgisthus, who shared with her in 
your murder. I indeed am in the place of a slave ; while 
Orestes is an exile from his wealth: and they, in their pride, 
triumph greatly in your downfall. But I pray, O father, 
and do you hear me ! that Orestes may come hither with 
prosperous fortune ; and grant to me, that I may be chaster 
than my mother, and more pious in my deeds ! For our- 
selves we offer these prayers; but for our enemies I 
implore, O father, that an avenger of thy death may ap- 
pear, and may requite thy murderers with the death which 
they deserve ! I insert these words in the midst of my 
prayer for good, uttering against them this evil imprecation. 
But do thou send to us from below the blessings we desire, 
along with the Gods, and Earth, and victorious Justice ! 
After such prayers, I pour forth these libations. — But it is 
fitting for you to burst forth into lamentations, giving 
loud voice to the paean of the dead. 

chorus. — Pour forth, amid groans, the mournful tear for 
our murdered lord, that we may thus confirm what is good, 
and avert the accursed abomination of evil by the libation 
of the sacred stream. Hear me, O august master ! hear 
me, as I pray from my darkened spirit ! O woe ! alas ! 
alas ! When shall the deliverer of the house arise, the 

(1 ) Before the introduction of Christianity, revenge was generally con- 
sidered as a virtue ; and we find even Aristotle talking, without any con- 
demnation, of its pleasures. The new Religion, which denounced it as an 
unholy and baneful passion, did more for the civilization and tranquillity of 
the world, by the propagation of this single doctrine, than all the boasted 
wisdom of heathen philosophy. 

N 2 



180 AESCHYLUS. 

Scythian warrior of the stubborn spear ; and Mars, amid 
the combat shaking in his hand the curved dart, and 
brandishing by the hilt the weapons of the close en- 
counter ? 

electra. — My father, indeed, hath already received the 
libations through the pores of the earth ; (O mightiest 
Herald of the Powers above and below ! ' ) but do you 
listen to the new tidings which I bring. 

chorus. — Relate them, if you please; but my heart beats 
violently through fear. 

electra. — I behold these shorn ringlets on the tomb. 

chorus. — To what man, or deep-bosomed maid, may 
they belong ? 

electra. — This offers an easy conjecture to the opinion 
of every one. 

chorus. — How then am I, aged, to be instructed by you 
younger ? 

electra. — There could be no one who would cut them 
off, except me. 

chorus. — For they are enemies, whose duty it were to 
offer the mourners tribute of hair. 

electra. — And, in truth, this is of a very similar hue in 
appearance. 

chorus. — To what hair ? for this I wish to know. 

electra. — It is very like in appearance to my own. 

chorus. — Can it be that this is the secret gift of 
Orestes ? 

electra. — It most resembles his locks. 

chorus. — But how could he have dared to come hither ? 

electra. — He has sent this shorn ringlet as a grateful 
offering to his father. 

chorus. — You utter words which do not the less ex- 
cite my sorrow, if he is never to touch this land with 
his foot. 

electra. — On my heart, too, hath gushed the wave of 
bitter grief ; and I have been struck as by a piercing dart. 

(l) Hermann and Wellauer condemn this line, which appears to have 
crept in here, out of its proper place at v. 118. 



THE CHOEPHORiE. 181 

But from my eyes, long dry, there fall the unexpected 
drops of a tempestuous shower, as I gaze upon this lock : 
for how can I suppose that its tresses belonged to any other 
of the citizens ? And surely neither could the murderess 
have shorn it, surely not my mother, she who feels senti- 
ments of hatred towards the children by no means accor- 
dant with the maternal name. But I know not how I can 
directly assent to the opinion that this ornament came from 
Orestes, the most dear to me of mortals : but I am soothed 
by the hope. Alas ! would that it had a welcome voice, 
like a messenger, so that I might no longer be agitated be- 
tween contending thoughts ; but that I might either reject 
the detected tress, if at least it had been cut from the head 
of an enemy, or that if it were from kindred it might be 
able to bear token of sorrow along with me, an ornament of 
this tomb, and an honour of my father 1 ! But we invoke 
the Gods, who know indeed in what storms, like mariners, 
we are tossed; but if we are fated to obtain safety, a 
mighty stem may arise from a small seed. And, besides, 
here is a second sign 2 , the prints of feet, that resemble 
and correspond with mine ; for these are the marks of two 
footsteps, both of himself and of some companion of his 
journey. The heels and the marks of the tendons, being 
measured, coincide exactly with the impress of mine. But 
anguish and confusion of the senses oppress me. 

ORESTES. 

Pray that what remains may fall out well, uttering to 
the Gods such prayers as require completion. 

electra. — For what have I now obtained, by the bless- 
ing of the Gods ? 

orestes. — You have come to the sight of those whom 
you lately prayed to see. 

(1) The accusatives in the text are governed by e« understood. 

(2) Is this to be considered as a reKfjifjptov, according n to'Aristotle's defi- 
nition? Pauw, who had a quick eye for an absurdity, lias attacked it 
with the ferocity for which he was also distinguished : " Hoc Sevrepov tsk- 
MPiov plane ridiculum est ; et minim, quod eruditissimus Comieus id non 
perfud'.?rit aceto suo ; sentiunt omnes qui aliquid sentiunt." 



182 .ESCHYLUS. 

electra. — And whom of mortals do you know me to 
have called on ? 

orestes. — I know that you were earnestly longing for 
Orestes. 

electra. — And in what, then, do I obtain my prayers ? 

orestes. — I am he : seek not one more dear than me. 

electra. — But are you not, O stranger, involving me in 
some deceit ? 

orestes. — In that case, I should be inventing stratagems 
against myself. 

electra. — But do you not wish to mock my mis- 
fortunes ? 

orestes. — No ; for in mocking yours, I should also mock 
my own. 

electra. — Do I then address you with these words as 
being really Orestes ? 

orestes. — When you see me in my own person, then 
you refuse to recognise me ; but yet when you looked on 
this shorn tress of votive hair corresponding with the head 
of your brother, and examined the traces of my footsteps, 
you were quickly fluttered, and thought that you saw me. 
Mark now this ringlet of hair, applying it to the place from 
which it was shorn ; and behold this woven garment, the 
work of your hand, and the strokes of the shuttle and the 
figures of wild animals inwrought ! Compose yourself; 
and do not let your senses forsake you through joy : for I 
know that those who ought to be dearest to us are our 
bitter enemies. 

electra. — O dearest care of your father s house, long- 
lamented hope of salvation to your race ! confiding in your 
valour, you shall regain the palace of your father. O be- 
loved being, who combine in yourself four ties to my 
regard 1 ! for it needs must be that I address you as 
father ; and my natural affection for my mother inclines 
to you, for she is most justly hated ; and for my sister, 

( 1 ) " Affectionem ait suam naturalem in quatuor partes divisam ; 
nempe, erga patrem, matrem, sororem Ipliigeniani, et fratrem Orestem, 
in unum jam collatam fuisse Orestem ; quippc cum pater et soror mortui 
essent, mater exosa." — Stani.ky. 



CHOEPHOR^E. 183 

who was cruelly sacrificed ; and you are my faithful 
brother, bringing glory to me, if only Strength and 
Justice, with a third, Jove the mightiest of all, be present 
to my aid. 

orestes. — Jove, O Jove ! do thou regard our state, and 
behold the orphan young of the eagle sire who died in the 
folds and wreaths of a deadly serpent ! But the pangs of 
hunger afflict his orphaned race ; for they are not able to 
bear the prey, like their father 1 , to the nest. Thus you 
may behold both me and her (I mean Electra) a fatherless 
offspring, both subject to the same exile from their home. 
And having destroyed these young of a father who sa- 
crificed at thy shrines and greatly honoured thee, whence 
shalt thou obtain from a like hand the honours of the 
solemn feast ? Neither, if thou permittest the offspring of 
the eagle to perish, shalt thou again have it in thy power 
to send credible signs of thy will to mortals; nor shall the 
stem of this royal race, if utterly blasted, again avail thy 
altars on the days of sacrifice. Bestow on us thy care ; 
and raise from its ruins a mighty house, which now ap- 
pears to have fallen for ever ! 

chorus. — O children, O preservers of your fathers house, 
be silent ! lest some one should hear, O children, and, 
indulging his tongue, should relate all to those in power, 
whom may I one day behold lifeless amid the pitchy smoke 
of the flaming pyre ! 

orestes. — The mighty Oracle of Loxias will not prove 
false ; which bade me encounter this danger, and loudly 
excited me to the task ; and denounced the fiercest storms 
of anguish in my fevered breast, if I should not pursue with 
vengeance the guilty murderers of my father, whom he com- 
manded me to requite in the same manner with slaughter, 
being driven to fury by the loss of my possessions ; and he 
announced, that if I failed I should make atonement to my 

(1) Blomfield very correctly renders Qfjpav irarpcpav, prcedam qualem pater 
capere solebat. Schiitz has it : " non enim valent (matris et iEgisthi vi pro- 
hibit) prcsdam paternam nidis inferre, h. e. bonorum paternorum haereditatis 
jure ad se pertinentium usufructu prohibentur." 



184 ^SCHYLUS. 

fathers shade by being subjected to many bitter ills. For 
he declared, as he spoke, such punishment from the sterile 
soil to our citizens as would make their enemies rejoice ; 
but to us, diseases— leprosies, that with cruel fangs should 
fasten on the flesh, corroding and destroying its former 
nature, and white hairs which should spring up after this 
disease. And he announced, that I should see clearly, even 
when I directed my gaze in darkness, other attacks of the 
Furies, that would result from my father s unavenged blood. 
For the dark shaft sent from the shades by the kindred 
dead who call for vengeance, and madness, and vain fears 
by night, harrow and disturb their victim ' ; and, his body, 
lacerated by their brazen scourge, is driven from the city. 
And for such it is the lot, neither to have a share in the 
festal goblet nor the libation of sacrifice ; and that the un- 
seen wrath of a father should exclude him from the altar ; 
that no one should receive him or aid him in his expiation ; 
and that, unhonoured and forsaken of all, he should at 
length die, miserably consumed by an unsparing destruc- 
tion. In these oracles, therefore, it is my duty to confide ; 
and even though I disbelieved them, still the deed must be 
done. For many desires conspire to this end — both the 
commands of the Gods, and the deep sorrow of my father, 
and the want of possessions which oppresses me in addi- 
tion — that the inhabitants of this land, the most glorious of 
mortals, who with gallant souls overthrew Troy, should 
no longer be subject to two women. For the mind of 
iEgisthus is that of a woman : and if not, he shall soon 
give proof of it. 

chorus. — But, O ye mighty Fates, grant, with the sanc- 
tion of Jove, that this may be consummated in the way in 
which justice should proceed ! In return for hostile words 
let hostile words be repaid — thus Justice, as she exacts 

(l) "Nolite enim putare, quemadmodum in fabulis sa?penumerb vi- 
detis, eos qui aliquid impie sceleratcque commiserint, agitari et perterreri 
furiarum tredis ardentibus. Sua quemque fraus et suus terror maxime 
vexat, suum quemque scelus agitat, amentiaque afficit, sure malw cogi- 
tationea cgnscientiseque animi terrent," — Cio. Orat. pro Hose. c. 24. 



THE CHOEPHORyE. 185 

her debt, loudly exclaims — and for the bloody wound let 
the guilty suffer the bloody wound in return. The worker 
of wrong must feel its retribution, and very ancient is the 
saying that proclaims this truth. 

orestes. — O father, unhappy father, by saying or doing 
what shall I succeed in wafting by prosperous gales from 
afar, where the chambers of thy repose contain thee, a light 
that may compensate for our former gloom ? For then 
should the strains of joy be celebrated, and his dirge reflect 
glory on the son of Atreus, the ancient lord of this house. 

chorus. — My child, the devouring jaw of the flame 
quells not the spirit of the dead, but from the tomb he 
manifests his wrath. The slain is lamented, and the mur- 
derer is brought to light; and the righteous grief for 
fathers and the authors of existence makes search into all 
the guilty deed, agitated by strong emotion to its quest of 
vengeance. 

electra. — Hear now, O father, in turn, my mournful 
woes ! The sepulchral lamentation, of your two children 
bewails your fate ; and your tomb has received us at once as 
suppliants and exiles. Which of these is well ? and which 
without evils ? Is not ours an overpowering calamity ? 

chorus. — But yet from these sorrowings the God, if he 
wills it, may cause more joyful sounds to arise ; and, in 
place of sepulchral lamentations, the hymn of triumph in 
the royal abodes may hail the new return of the object of 
our love. 

orestes. — Would, O father, that beneath the walls of 
Troy thou hadst perished by the wound of some Lycian 
spear ! Bequeathing thy renown to thy house, and esta- 
blishing an envied course of life for thy children to pursue \ 
thou wouldest have occupied a tomb of lofty structure in 

(1 ) " Liberorumque vita ac rebus felicem cetatem condens : Ke\ev6oiq elegans 
ita, et notum ; eiria-rpeTTTov quce mentes et oculos in se converlat." Pauw. 
— " Verte, vitam in qua liberi sine impedimento versari possint." Blomfield. 
— We have given the preference to the former interpretation of the word, 
both because we consider it more elegant and les3 forced. 



186 AESCHYLUS. 

a foreign land — a fate that would have caused lighter sor- 
row to thy race *. 

chorus. — Beloved by thy friends who there gloriously 
died, thou wouldest have been even beneath the earth a 
king distinguished by sacred honour, and a minister of the 
mighty Powers that rule the shades ; for thou wert, while 
in life, a king among those who fill their appointed station 
with the hand of power and the awe-commanding sceptre. 
* electra. — Nor slain beneath the walls of Troy hast 
thou been buried, O father, along with the other victims of 
the spear beside the streams of Scamander. Oh ! would 
that thy murderers had thus first been subdued, so that 
thou, when afar, hadst heard of their deadly fate, thyself 
exempted from these sufferings ! 

chorus. — The wishes that you express, my child, are 
better than gold, and greater than high and Hyperborean 
fortune 2 ; but they are the cause of pain. For the sound 
of this double scourge approaches : the allies of these two 3 
are already beneath the earth ; and the hands of the hate- 
ful pair in power are stained with guilt : but on the children 
that scourge hath more heavily descended. 

electra. — These words have pierced right through my 
ear, like a sharp weapon. Jove, O Jove, if thou sendest 
up from below the visitation of a late vengeance on the 
daring and guilty hand of mortals, even on a parent must 
the punishment be alike inflicted ! 

(1) " jEdibus tolerabilem, scil. tuis liberorumque tuorum propriis." Pauw. 
" Mdificm amplum ab eixpopeoa abundo /" Heath. The latter of these 
commentators wrote professedly against the former, and kept no terms in 
the abuse with which he loaded him. The reader may judge from this 
sample which was the more likely to catch the spirit of the author. 

(2) " De felicitate Hyperboreorum res note. Pomponius Mela. III. 5 : 
Diutius quam ulli rnortalium et beatius vivunt. Cf. Gesneri de navigationi- 
bus extra columnas Herculis, Preelect. II. in ejusdem Orphicis, p. 467. 
Hrcc igitur Chorus significat : Quanquam per se triste est liberis patrem 
decedere, tamen, quod optasti, ut pater tuus potius ante Trojam oc- 
cidisset, pro doloris magnitudine quo nunc opprimeris nimis magn© feli- 
citatis esset." — Schutz. 

(3) Orestes and Electra. 



THE CHOEPHORjE. 187 

chorus — May it be mine to welcome with songs the 
bitter shriek of the man as he sinks beneath his wound, 
and of the woman as she expires ! For why should I con- 
ceal how there ever hovers before my mind, and before my 
face, the fierce gust of passion, the fury of heart, and the 
anger of hate ? 

orestes. — And some day may Jupiter, doubly armed to 
destroy, stretch forth his hand, alas ! alas ! and smite 
their heads ! May security return to this land ! I demand 
justice to be exacted from the unjust : and O ye Powers 
that are honoured among the shades, listen to my prayer ! 

chorus. — But it is a law, indeed, that the blood of 
slaughter, when shed on the earth, calls for other blood : 
for murder makes its appeal to an avenging Power, that 
awakes from those who perished before a second calamity 
to succeed the first. 

electra. — Where, where now are the Powers that rule 
the dead ? Behold, ye potent curses of the murdered ! 
behold all that remain of the race of Atreus, bereft of re- 
source, and ignominiously driven from their house ! Where, 
O Jove, can any one look for succour ? 

chorus. — My heart again throbs with agitation, as I hear 
these wailings ; and at one time, indeed, I yield to despon- 
dency, and my thoughts become dark within me as I listen 
to your words. But when again you are confident through 
hope of aid, my sorrow departs, so that all seems well. 

orestes. — What shall we say without erring ? As- 
suredly it is right to extenuate the wrongs which we 
suffer at the hands of parents. But wrongs such as ours 
admit of no alleviation : for, like some ferocious wolf, our 
mother from her birth had a mind unmoved by pity. 

electra. — She struck a martial stroke ; and then, after 
the custom of the female warrior of Cissia, you might have 
seen the eager blows of her hand descending from on high 
and afar with increasing force, with varied aim and with oft- 
repeated wounds ; while my head, beaten with the violence 
of despair, gives back the sound of the blows. Oh ! oh ! 
fierce and daring mother, with an hostile funeral you had 



188 AESCHYLUS. 

the heart to bury the monarch without his subjects, and 
the unpitied husband without the obsequies of woe * ! 

orestes. — Alas ! all your tale is of dishonour ; but, 
through the blessing of the Gods, and by means of my 
hands, she shall yet in truth atone for the base wrongs she 
did my father ; and then may I perish, after having de- 
prived her of life ! 

electra. — But more — that you may know this insult — 
his limbs were mangled 2 ; and as she slew him, so she 
buries him, seeking to attach an intolerable fate to your 
life. You hear the ignominious sufferings of your father. 

orestes. — You speak of my fathers fate. 

electra. — But I was kept aloof, dishonoured and de- 
spised; and excluded from the inner chambers 3 like a 
mischievous dog, I gave birth to tears more readily than 
smiles, glad if I could conceal from observation my weeping 
griefs. Hearing these statements, inscribe them on your 
thoughts, and transmit my words through your ears, to 
settle undisturbed within your mind. For these things 
indeed are so, and do you seek yourself to learn what re- 
mains. But it is necessary to descend to the contest with 
inflexible resolution. 

(1) "Hand omnino absimilis Shakspearii locus in nobili Tragoedia cui 
titulus, Hamlet, IV. 3 : 

' His obscure funeral 

No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o'er his bones, 

No noble right, nor formal ostentation.' " Butler. 

(2) "To mangle a dead body was more horrid than the act of murder 
itself; as it made the manes of the deceased a dishonourable spectacle 
among the shades below, where they were thought to retain these disfi- 
guring mutilations, and were of course disabled from any acts of venge- 
ance. Plato built a fanciful philosophy on this opinion ; of which Virgil 
knew how to make the true poetic use, when he describes Eriphyle pointing 
to the wound of her son : 

* Moestamque Eriphylen 

Crudelis nati monstrantem vulnera cernit.' 
The figure of Deiphobus is represented under the same idea, Mn. VI. 494." 

Potter. 

(3) "Virgines erant in interiori domo; et ibi degebant a vnlgi oculis 
remotw ; quid igitur factum Electro? Virginum conclavi exclusa ut canis 
noxia in ipsa aula, et atrio obcrrabat neglecta." — Pauw. 



THE CHOEPHORjE. 189 

orestes. — I call upon you, O father, to aid those who 
are dear to you. 

electra. — And I, drenched in tears, add my voice to 
the request. 

chorus. — And this band of common friends echoes the 
prayer. Hear, coming to the light, and lend thy aid 
against enemies ! 

orkstes. — May Mars engage with Mars, and vengeance 
with vengeance. 

electra. — O Gods, consummate according to justice 

chorus. — Trembling steals over me, as I hear these 
prayers. Fate remains fixed of old, and, to those who pray 
for it, may come. Alas for the calamities of this race, and 
the unnatural and bloody wound of destruction ! Alas for 
these grievous and intolerable woes ! Alas for the irre- 
mediable anguish that ever festers in this house ! It is the 
subject of exulting hymns to the bloody Goddesses be- 
neath the earth, that neither from afar, nor by strangers, 
but by kindred hands, they shall sacrifice life. But hear- 
ing, O blessed Powers beneath the earth, this prayer — will- 
ingly send assistance to lead the children to victory ! 

orestes. — O father, whose death was not such as be- 
came a king, grant to my request that I obtain the power 
in thy palace. 

electra. — And I, father, proffer to thee a similar prayer, 
that I may escape, after inflicting a dire fate on iEgisthus ! 

orestes. — For thus should ritual feasts be instituted by 
men to thy honour ; but if not, thou shalt be forgotten at 
the splendid banquet \ and amid the fires of sacrifice that 
arise with fragrance from earth. 

electra. — And I shall bring to thee from the paternal 
abode the nuptial offerings of my unwasted inheritance 2 ; 
for beyond all others I shall reverence this tomb. 

(1) " Agamemnonem mortuum nee inferiis nee silicernio honestatum 
plus semel conqueritur Electra, turn apud nostrum, turn apud Sophoclem 
et Euripidem: credebant quippe veteres defunctorum animas ab inferis 
excitatas iis vesci et delectari." — Stanley. 

(2) " Affection to her father peculiarly marks the character of Electra, 

of 



190 AESCHYLUS. 

orestes. — O Earth, restore to me my father, to behold 
the strife ! 

electra. — O Proserpine, do thou grant us victory in 
its fairest shape ! 

orestes. — Remember, O father, the baths in which thou 
wert deprived of life ! 

electra. — And remember the invention of the net, which 
they practised against thee ! 

orestes. — Thou wert bound, O father, in fetters, but 
not of brass. 

electra. — Basely entangled in the folds of the insidious 
garment. v 

orestes. — Is thy spirit not roused, O father ! by these 
insults ? 

electra. — Dost thou not raise aloft thy dearest head ? 

orestes. — Send either justice to assist your friends, or 
grant that your enemies be recompensed with equal suffer- 
ings, if at least, after having been conquered, you wish to 
prevail in your turn ! 

electra. — And hear, O father, this my last appeal ! 
Beholding these young ones sitting by thy tomb, pity both 
the female and the male offspring ; and do not extinguish 
the blood of this race of Pelops ! For thus, even in the tomb, 
thou art not yet dead ; since children are to the departed 
hero the preservers of his fame, and, as corks, support the 
net, preserving the entwisted line from sinking in the deep. 
Hear ! It is for thy sake that such lamentations are poured ; 
and do thou remember and regard these words ! 

chorus. — And, in truth, ye have both uttered blameless 
speeches, in honour of his tomb, and of his fate which has 
been yet unpitied. But as to what remains, since you are 
animated in thought to the deed, you may now fulfil its 
work, and make trial of your fortune. 

orestes. — It] shall be done : but it is not out of the way 

of which she could not give a stronger instance than this. Deprived, as she 
now was, of all her share of her father's riches, she had it not in her power 
to offer any presents at his tomb ; but should ^Egisthus be slain, she devoted 
even her nuptial dowry to that purpose." — Potter. 



THE CHOEPHORtE. 191 

to inquire, why she hath sent the libations? from what 
reason she pays this late honour to a calamity that cannot 
be assuaged ? The wretched offering was sent to the dead, 
and not to the living who could regard it. I cannot con- 
jecture the object of these gifts ; but they are insufficient to 
expiate her crime : for though you should pour forth end- 
less libations in atonement for one murder, the labour were 
in vain : such is the common saying. But tell to me, if 
you know it, what I wish to hear. 

chorus. — I know it, O my child, for I was present : the 
impious woman having been agitated by dreams and ter- 
rors that disturb her repose, hath sent these libations. 

orestes. — Have you also learned the dream, so as to 
relate it correctly ? 

chorus. — She thought, as she herself says, that she had 
given birth to a serpent. 

orestes. — How does this tale end ? and what is its issue ? 
chorus. — She fancied that the new T -born monster lay, 
like a child, in swaddling-clothes, desiring some food ; and 
in the dream she gave it her own breast. 

orestes. — And how was it that the nipple was un- 
wounded by her horrid suckling ? 

chorus. — It was wounded, so that with the milk it drew 
the clotted blood. 

orestes. — The dreams of mortals come with no vain 
warning. 

chorus. — But she, startling from her sleep, shrieked in 
terror ; and many lamps which had been extinguished in 
darkness again blazed up in the palace, at the call of my 
mistress. And afterwards she sends these funeral libations, 
expecting them to prove an effectual remedy of her ills. 

orestes. — But I pray to this earth, and to the tomb of my 
father, that this dream may be accomplished as I desire ' 
and, in truth, I judge of it that it seems all consistent. For 
if the serpent, leaving the same birth-place with me, was 
dressed in my swaddling-clothes, and applied its mouth to 
the same breast that gave me nourishment, and mingled a 
mother's milk with the clotted blood, while she shrieked 



1<>2 ./ESCHYLUS. 

through anguish and dread — it is fated, that, as she nursed 
this horrid monster, she should die a violent death ; and 
that I, assuming the serpent's nature, should slay her, as 
this dream foretells. But concerning these portents I 
choose you as my interpreter. 

chorus. — May it be as you have spoken ! But explain 
to your friends what remains to be executed, telling these 
what they are to do, and those from what they are to 
refrain. 

orestes. — My commands are simple : I advise Electra 
to go within, and to conceal the designs which we have 
mutually formed ; so that they who slew by guile a hero 
in his glory may be also the victim of guile, dying in the 
same toils, even as has been predicted by the God of Ora- 
cles, king Apollo, the Prophet that never yet hath erred. 
For in the character of a stranger, and completely equipped 
as such, I will approach with Pylades to the gates of the 
court, pretending to be a guest and foreign friend of the 
house. But we will both speak the Parnassian language, 
imitating the sounds of the Phocian tongue. And if it 
happen that no one of the keepers of the gates receive us 
with glad inclination, since the house is distracted by its 
misfortunes, we will remain as we are, so that some one 
passing by the palace may conjecture our wishes and speak 
these words : " Why with the closed gate do ye exclude 
the suppliant, if iEgisthus being present at home knows 
it ?" — If then I shall pass the threshold of the gates of the 
court, and shall find him on the throne of my father, or 
even if coming before me he shall address me and cast his 
eyes upon me, be assured, that before he has said "Of 
what country is the stranger ?"" I will lay him dead, having 
swiftly transfixed him with my sword ; and the Fury, who 
hath not been stinted of slaughter, shall drink a third 
draught of undiluted blood. Do you \ therefore, now watch 
well the proceedings in the house, that all may happen 
agreeably to our designs : and to you 2 1 recommend to keep 

(1) Electra. (2) The Chorus. 



THE CHOEPHOR.E. 193 

strict guard on your tongues, and to be silent where it is 
proper, and to speak only what is required by the season. 
As for what remains, I commit it to the vigilance of the 
friend who assists my success in this contest of the sword. 
chorus. — The earth indeed breeds many and dreadful 
objects of fear and horror ; and the arms of the sea teem 
with creatures hostile to mortals; and meteors on high 
bear destruction through the regions of middle air: and 
one might tell of monsters that creep and monsters that 
fly, and of the stormy fury of the whirlwinds. But who 
can tell the extreme audacity of the thoughts of man ; 
and of women daring in mind ; and the lawless impetuosity 
of loves that mingle with the calamities of mortals ? The 
force of forbidden passion prevailing in the female breast 
violates the harmonies of social union, both among men 
and the inferior animals. Let him who is not heedless of 
reflection acknowledge this truth, when he hears of the 
device of the consuming fire which the wretched daughter 
of Thestius * contrived for the destruction of her son, com- 
mitting to the flames the fatal brand, whose existence was 
destined to be the same with that of her son from the time 
that he uttered his first cries on coming from the womb, 
and to correspond with it in measure through his life to 
the day appointed by fate for its termination. There is 
another, too, celebrated in story, whom we ought to hate — 
the bloody Scylla, who, at the instigation of enemies, de- 
stroyed a father whom she should have loved, being per- 
suaded by the gifts of Minos, the Cretan necklaces of gold, 
and having with shameless purpose despoiled Nisus of his 

(l) "When Althaea, the daughter of Thestius, was delivered of Me- 
leager, the Destinies attended at her labour ; and upon the birth of the 
child, throwing a log on the fire as they spun his thread of life, pro- 
nounced this charm : ' O new-born child ! we assign the same period of 
existence to this log and to thee ;' — then vanished. Althsea snatched the 
log from the flames, and preserved it with great care ; till Meleager having 
slain her two brothers, for rudely taking the head of the Calydonian boar 
from Atalanta, to whom he had presented it, this unnatural mother threw 
the fatal brand into the fire, and the charm of the Destinies was fulfilled." — 

Potter. 
O 



194 .ESCHYLUS. 

immortal ringlet as he lay breathing in unsuspecting 
sleep 1 : but Hermes overtook her with retribution. But 
since I have made mention of ruthless cruelties, I will in- 
clude, though their place should have been the first, the 
hateful marriage detested by this house, and the plots de- 
vised in the mind of a woman. Honour is to be paid to 
the warrior arrayed in armour and raging in battle against 
his enemies; but at home I approve of a hearth undis- 
turbed by violence, and in woman a disposition that is not 
prone to daring. Of former ills, the Lemnian 2 is the most 
celebrated in story ; and it has been deplored in succeeding 
times with execration ; for men are wont to compare any 
horrible deed to the Lemnian atrocities. I But through pol- 
lutions abhorred of Heaven the race of mortals perishes 
unhonoured ; for no one holds in reverence that which is 
displeasing to the Gods. Which of these combined instances 
have I not quoted with justice ? But the bitter point of 
the sword of vengeance will soon inflict a mortal wound 
through the lungs; for the guilt of those who lawlessly 
transgress the awful decrees of Jove shall not be trampled 
under foot and forgotten. The foundations of the altar of 
Justice are firmly fixed ; and Fate, forging the sword, pre- 
pares it for the deed ; while the triumphant Fury, bring- 
ing her mysterious purposes to light, introduces fresh 
slaughter into the house, and at length avenges the pol- 
lution of the blood that was shed of old. 

orestes. — O boy, boy, be not deaf to the knocking at the 
gate of the court! O boy, boy, I again repeat, who is 

(1) Nisus, the king of Alcathoe, had a lock of purple hair, on the pre- 
servation of which his safety depended. His daughter Scylla was per- 
suaded by the love or gifts of Minos to cut off the charmed ringlet, while 
her father was asleep ; and his city, before impregnable, immediately 
yielded to the arms of the enemy. 

(2) " All the men of Lemnos that were able to bear arms had invaded 
Thrace, and continued the war for three years : their wives, stung with 
rage and jealousy, formed a horrid design, which they executed the very 
nioht on which their husbands returned, to murder every male on the 
island. Hypsipyle alone saved her father Thoas. Statins has related the 
whole transaction with his usual spirit, Tkcb.X . 1. 70." — Potter. 



THE CHOEPHORjE. 195 

within in the house ? For the third time I call on you to 
come forth from the house, if the mighty iEgisthus is 
hospitable to strangers. 

SERVANT. 

Well! I hear. — Of what country is the stranger? 
whence comes he ? 

orestes. — Announce me to the rulers of the house, to 
see whom I have come, and am the bearer of new tidings : 
but make haste, for the dark chariot of night is also hasten- 
ing on its way, and it is time that travellers should drop 
anchor in the abodes of hosts who deny welcome to 
none. Let some woman, ruling with full authority, come 
forth from the house ; but it were more proper that a man 
should receive us ; for in such a case the absence of 
shame in conversation prevents the obscurity of expres- 
sion : a man speaks with confidence to a man, and signifies 
with clear certainty his meaning. 

CLYTEMNESTRA. 

Strangers, it is permitted you to speak, if you have 
need of any thing ; for such things as befit the house are 
present, both warm baths, and the couch to soothe your 
toils, and the presence of just eyes. But if it is necessary 
to transact any other affair of deeper moment, this is the 
business of men, to whom we will impart your wishes. 

orestes. — I indeed am a Daulian stranger, from 'the 
country of the Phocians ; and as I was going to Argos, 
bearing my own baggage, after I had set out in this direc- 
tion on foot, an unknown person whom I met said to me 
unknown — having asked whither I was bound, and having 
pointed out the way — Strophius the Phocian (for I learned 
his name during the conversation) : " Since for other rea- 
sons, O stranger, you are going to Argos, tell to his 
parents that Orestes is dead; strictly remembering my 
words, and by no means let them escape you : whether, 
therefore, the opinion of his friends shall prevail to carry 
away the body, or that we should bury him amongst us, 
for ever a stranger to his home, bring back their com- 
mands : for now the sides of the brazen urn contain the 

o 2 



1% AESCHYLUS. 

ashes of the man whose death has been bewailed with due 
rites. 71 — I have now told all that I heard : and if I chance 
to be speaking to those in power and to his kindred, I 
know not ; but it is fitting that his parents should be in- 
formed of what has happened. 

electra. — Ah me, how utterly we are now undone ! 

Fiend, that devotest this house to inevitable ruin, how 
many even of those objects that seemed secured by distance 
hast thou marked for thy prey, and vanquished from afar 
with unerring shafts ! Thou hast stripped of every friend 
me thy unhappy victim. And now Orestes — for his fate 
had fallen better, preserving his foot from the mire of de- 
struction — now also he for ever blots out the only hope of 
allaying the guilty phrensy that hath been triumphing in 
this house. 

orestes. — I, indeed, to hosts thus blessed by fortune 
would have wished to have become known, and to have 
been welcomed by them for the sake of good tidings : for 
what can be more friendly than the feeling of the guest 
towards his host ? But I considered it as impious not to 
fulfil my duty in this matter to my friends, after having 
given my promise to the one, and being bound by the ties 
of hospitality to the other. 

clytem. — You shall not, in truth, meet with less than you 
deserve ; nor should you with right have been less dear to 
this house ; for some other would have come in like manner 
to announce these tidings. But it is time that strangers 
who have spent the day in long travel should obtain what 
their wants require. Conduct him into the hospitable 
male-apartments of the house, and his attendants, and 
those that may be travelling along with him ; and there 
let them meet with a reception worthy of the house. And 

1 recommend you to do this as one from whom an account 
of his conduct will be required. But we will both impart 
these things to the rulers of the house, and, not destitute of 
friends, will resolve ourselves concerning this calamity. 

chorus. — Say then, ye dear virgins who serve in this 
house, when shall we put fortli the strength of our prayers 



THE CHOEPHORvE. 197 

for Orestes ? O awful earth, and awful confines of the 
sepulchral mound, which art now laid above the royal 
body of the leader of the fleet, now hear our supplications ! 
now lend your aid ! for now is the time for guileful Per- 
suasion, and for Mercury the conductor of the dead, to 
descend together, and to guide the dark avenger to these 
contests of the murderous sword. — The stranger appears 
to be working evil. But I see the nurse of Orestes ap- 
proach, weeping. Whither are you passing, O Kilissa 1 , 
through the gates of the house ? But an unbribed 2 grief 
is the companion of your way. 

NURSE. 

My mistress commanded me to call iEgisthus as quickly 
as possible to the strangers, that, having come, the man 
might more clearly learn from a man the new tidings of 
this report. Before the domestics, indeed, she suppressed 
her exultation within eyes of sad seeming 3 , concealing the 
joy she felt for deeds that had been perpetrated with good 
fortune to her, but which are fraught with misery to this 
house, from the tidings which the strangers have clearly 
announced. ^Egisthus without doubt will rejoice in his 
mind, when he shall have heard the tale. Alas for my 
unhappy state ! How deeply has the accumulation of 
former intolerable woes, that happened in this house of 
Atreus, already pained the feelings of my bosom ! But 
never yet have I endured such a suffering as the present. 
I drained indeed with patience the cup of other ills ; but 
now I have lost the dear Orestes, the chief care of my soul, 
whom I reared, having received from his mother, being 
often disturbed in the night by his shrill cries, and having 
in vain endured many and grievous troubles : for the un- 
thinking infant must be reared, like the young of the flock, 

(1) The same personage is called Arsinoe by Pindar, Pyth. Od. XL 26. 

(2) Or, genuine. Dutheil translates it in a different sense, but with 
his usual elegance: " La douleur qui vous accompagne, eclate malgre vous." 

(3) "At ille, quanquam perfecto voto, prostrato inimico hetus ageret, 
vultu tamen gaudium tegit et frontem asseverat, dolorem simulans ; et 
omnia quidem lugentium officia solerter affingit, sed solse lachrymse pro- 
cedere noluerunt." — Apul. Metam. VIII. p. 1 56. 



198 AESCHYLUS. 

(and how otherwise ?) by mere guess. For a child, while 
yet in swadling-clothes, says nothing, whether hunger or 
thirst or the call of nature is felt by him, and the belly of 
the infant consults for its own relief 1 . Endeavouring to 
foresee its necessities — but often, I own, deceived, and 
therefore forced to clean the clothes of the child — the 
washer and nurse had the same office. But I, performing 
this double labour, received Orestes to be reared for his 
father. And now I, wretched, hear that he is dead : and I 
am going to a man, the author of wrong to this house, 
who will learn these tidings with joy. 

chorus. — How, then, does she bid him come prepared ? 

nurse. — How do you mean ? Speak again, that I may 
learn more clearly. 

chorus. — Whether with guards, or alone ? 

nurse. — She bids him bring attendants, armed with the 
spear. 

chorus. — Do not you now carry this message to our 
detested master; but desire him to come as quickly as 
possible, with rejoicing mind, that he may listen without 
alarm to the tidings ; for a faulty message may be set to 
rights by the bearer. 

nurse. — Are you in your senses to say so, after the news 
that have been reported. 

chorus. — But what if Jupiter shall yet grant a happy 
change from misfortune ? 

nurse. — How can it occur ? Orestes, the hope of the 
house, is gone. 

chorus. — Not yet : even a dull prophet might discern 
this. 

nurse. — What do you say ? Do you know any thing 
beyond what has been announced ? 

chorus. — Proceed on your errand, and do as you have 
been desired. Those things are a care to the Gods, for 
the care of which they may chance to provide. 

(l) " avrapK)]<; recte explicat Schol. : eat-ry aptceTv xai f3ot]0e7v fiovXerai, 
i. e. alionim au.iUium non cxspcctat. scd ipsa statim sibi sujficit, etfacit^ qua 
ncccssaria vhhnfur." — Wellackr. 



THE CHOEPHOR^E. 199 

nurse. — But I go, and in these particulars will obey 
your request ; and, with the blessing of the Gods, may all 
turn out for the best ! 

chorus. — O Jupiter, Father of the Olympian Gods, 
grant, to my request, that I may see my masters searching 
well after discretion! I have spoken every word with 
justice. O Jupiter, do thou preserve him, and exalt above 
his enemies the stranger within the palace ! since, if thou 
raisest him to glory, thou shalt receive, if thou wilt, a 
double and triple recompence. Think of the orphan 
young of a beloved hero harnessed in the chariot of afflic- 
tions, and prescribe a limit to his course. Oh that one 
might see the eager bound of the steps that complete it, 
advancing in measured order over this plain ! And ye, 
who within the house preside over chambers proud of their 
wealth, hear, ye accordant Gods ! Haste, and expiate the 
blood of those who were slain of old, by a fresh vengeance ! 
Let the ancient murder no longer produce its breed in the 
house ; but oh, do Thou, who dwellest in the mighty cavern 
of Delphi, grant that the abode of this man may at the 
same time behold a deed of righteous slaughter, and that 
when this gloomy veil is removed he may see freely and 
clearly with his dear eyes ! And may the propitious Son of 
Maia justly aid his cause, and grant a successful issue" ! 
Apollo, if he wishes it, will bring to light many other my- 
steries ; for by uttering obscure oracles he brings night and 
darkness before the eyes, and by day his decrees are not 
more lucid *. Then, at last, we will raise with full notes the 
female song of triumph, to celebrate the release of this 
house, and at the same time pour from the lyre of the 
mourners a strain of sorrow for the dead. Such an issue 
is fortunate for the State ; and my gain, even mine, is in- 
creased, and Calamity takes her leave of my friends. But 
do you with courage, when your share in the deed has 
arrived, shouting the name of father to her when she ex- 
claims to you ■ My child," 1 complete a just and irreproachable 

(1) It seems strangely out of place in this Chorus, and more particu- 
larly in this part of it, to think of taxing even Oracles with obscurity. 



200 ^ISCHYLUS. 

vengeance. Bearing in your breast the heart of Perseus \ 
and performing as a kindness, both to the friends below 
the earth and those above it, a deed of bitter resentment, 
inflict a bloody fate on those within the palace, and de- 
stroy for ever the wretch who was guilty of the murder. 

.3EGISTHUS. 

I come indeed not uncalled, but at the bidding of a 
messenger; but I hear that certain strangers who have 
arrived report news of an unwelcome 2 nature, even the 
death of Orestes ; for to communicate this to the house 
would be a new and cruel affliction to a family that is 
already lacerated and pained by former slaughter. How 
shall I deem that this intelligence is true and clear ? Or 
do agitated rumours, spread by women, fly abroad 3 , to 
perish without effect ? Which of these would you say was 
right, so as to prove it to my mind ? 

chorus. — We have heard indeed; but, going within, 
make your own inquiries of the strangers. The authority 
of messengers is nothing, compared with the investigation 
of the facts by a man himself. 

vegisthus. — I wish to see, and again to examine, the mes- 
senger, whether he himself was present at the death of 
Orestes, or whether he speaks from the information of an 
obscure report. He will find it impossible to deceive a 
vigilant mind. 

chorus. — Jupiter ! O Jupiter ! what shall I say ? whence 
shall I begin my prayers and vehement appeal to thee ? 
How, speaking from the dictates of my good wishes, shall I 
obtain by thy favour an equivalent boon ? For the bloody 
deeds of the murderous swords are now about to 
cause, utterly and for ever, the destruction of the house of 

(1) See Blomf. Gloss. 817. for a summary of the opinions relative to 
this expression ; none of which, however, including the last and most 
learned, are entirely satisfactory. 

(2) " Ait se non gaudere nuntio de inexpectata morte Orestis : hsec 
loquitur alludens ad piaculum quod contractum fuerat a priore erode Aga- 
memnonis." — Stanley. 

(.'>) Literally, '''through the <tir." 



THE CHOEPHOR^. 201 

Agamemnon ; or, kindling fire and flame on the altar for 
the return of freedom and the beginning of civic rule, he 
shall regain the mighty wealth of his fathers. Such a 
conflict is Orestes, waiting singly for the struggle, about 
to engage in with two ; and may his efforts be crowned 
with victory ! . 

^gisthus. — Ah ! ah ! alas ! alas ! 

chorus. — Again alas ! alas ! How is it ? how hath the 
deed been done in the house ? Let us stand apart from 
the completion of the affair, that we may not appear to 
have had any share in these evils : for the issue of the 
strife hath now been determined. 

servant. — Alas ! well I may say alas, on account of my 
murdered master. Alas ! I again repeat, with a third ut- 
terance. iEgisthus is no more. But open with all speed, 
and unbar the chambers of the women. We have need of 
a very vigorous ally, but not to assist the slain ; for what 
would that avail ? Hollo ! hollo ! I shout to the deaf, and 
idly exclaim to those who slumber when they ought not. 
Where is Clytemnestra ? what is she about ? It seems as 
if her neck were soon to fall on the edge of the sword, and 
to be stricken by a just vengeance ! 

cl\tem. — What is the matter ? Why do you raise this 
cry in the house ? 

servant. — I tell you that the dead are slaying the living. 

clytem. — Ah me ! I understand the meaning of your 
enigma. We perish by guile, in like manner as we slew. 
Let some one give me, as quickly as possible, the deadly 
axe \ Let us see whether we shall conquer or fall ; for to 
this crisis of misfortune we have come. 

(1) "Eandemne intelligemus securim peti a Clytemnestra qua rbvavSpa 
percusserat ? at que inde avBpoKfiTJra." Abresch. " Ineptum esset quod 

Abreschio in mentem venit, hie eandem securim intelligere qua Clytem- 
nestra maritum percusserat. Omninb est, Securis homini occidendo ido- 
nea" — Schutz. We agree, on the whole, with the latter interpretation, 
but at the same time there is nothing absurd in the first. If Clytemnestra 
did not ask for the identical axe with which she had before distinguished 
hersalf, she shewed at all events a singular partiality for the weapon. 



202 AESCHYLUS. 

orestes. — You next I seek: for I have done his busi- 
ness for the other. 

clytem. — Ah me ! Art thou dead, O dearest iEgisthus ? 

orestes. — Do you love him ? If so, you shall lie in the 
same tomb ; and not forsake him, even in death. 

clytem. — Restrain your hand, O son ! and respect, my 
child, this breast \ on which you, often slumbering, sucked 
with your gums the genial nutriment of its milk. 

orestes. — Pylades, what shall I do ? Shall I suffer my 
filial reverence to restrain me from slaying my mother ? 

pylades. — What, then, has become of the oracles of 
Loxias announced from Delphi, and the faith of the oaths 
which you pledged ? Account all as your enemies, rather 
than the Gods. 

orestes. — T award the victory to your persuasions ; and 
you advise me well. Follow : I wish to slay you beside 
the body of iEgisthus ; for you preferred him, while he 
lived, to my father. Sleep, then, with him in death ; since 
you love this man, and hate him whom you ought to love. 

clytem. — I nursed your infancy, and with you I wish to 
pass my age. 

orestes. — Shall you, after having slain my father, dwell 
along with me ? 

clytem. — Fate, O my child, was in part the cause of 
these things. 

orestes. — And Fate also has been the cause of the doom 
that now awaits you. 

clytem. — Do you not stand in awe, my child, of the 
curses of a parent ? 

orestes. — No; for you, who gave me birth, cast me 
ou*t, to struggle with adversity. 

clytem.- — I did not cast you out, surely, in sending you 
to the house of a friend. 

(l) There is a Greek epigram, in which Clytemnestra is made to ap- 
peal in similar terms to the natural affections of her son : 

Il5 £t$°* lOvveis ; Kara yao-repo*; »; koto yuatwv ; 
Vaartjp r\ a eA.oxeu<rev, aveOepyj/auro Se paC,oi. 



THE CHOEPHORiE. 203 

orestes. — I was sold as a slave to a foreign land, though 
sprung from a free father. 

clytem. — Where, in truth, is the price which I received 
in return ? 

orestes. — I am ashamed to taunt you, in plain words, 
with the just reproach K • 

clytem. — Be not ashamed ; but mention also, at the same 
time, the errors 2 of your father. 

orestes. — Do not, sitting in indolence at home, upbraid 
him who endures the toil. 

clytem. — It is a hardship, my son, for women to be de- 
barred from intercourse with a husband. 

orestes. — It is the labour of the husband, however, 
which supports them inactive within the house. 

clytem. — You appear, my son, as if you were about to 
slay your mother. 

orestes. — You in truth, not I, will be the cause of your 
own death. 

clytem. — Think of the issue ; beware of the angry Furies 
of a mother. 

orestes. — But how shall I escape those of a father, if I 
forego this deed ? 

clytem. — I seem, living, to lament in vain to one who is 
dead 3 to my entreaties. 

orestes. — For the fate of my father hastens thy death. 

clytem. — Ah me! I have brought forth and nursed a 
serpent ! Too true has been the presage of my fearful 
dreams. 

orestes. — Since you slew him, whom you ought to have 
spared, you must now suffer a punishment as unmeet 4 . 



(1) Her intercourse with jEgisthus. 

(2) " Moras cum dicit, concubinarum amores tangit, quibus Agamemnon 
obnoxius fuerat." — Schutz. 

(3) See Blomfield's Glossary, 913. 

(4) The remarks of Butler on the previous scene are not unworthy of 
notice: "Rectius forte totum hunc dialogum o-rixofjivdoCfievov omisisset 
Noster, habet enim argutias et amarulentam certe criminationem, sed 

nihil 



204 jESCHYLUS. 

chorus. — Let us lament, then, the double calamity, even 
of this guilty pair. But since the unhappy Orestes has 
brought a close to many slaughters, we still accept with 
gratitude that the eye of the house has not utterly pe- 
rished. Vengeance for the fallen race of Priam has come, 
though late — a heavy and penal vengeance ; and the two 
lions, the brother warriors, have rushed into the house of 
Agamemnon. The exile, of whom Apollo prophesied, 
hath prospered through all his enterprise, having been 
justly excited to his purpose by the commands of the 
Gods. Raise, then, the shout of joy for the escape of the 
royal house from evils, and from the spoliation of its 
wealth by the polluted pair, its former lamentable fortune. 
For guileful Punishment, who delights in the assassin 
strife, hath at length come ; and the Daughter of Jove 
hath in earnest applied her hand to the battle, (well do 
we mortals denominate her Justice,) breathing against her 
enemies the wrath of destruction. The God of Oracles, 
the Parnassian Apollo, who dwells in the mighty cavern of 
earth amid the steeps of Delphi, at length visits, undis- 
guisedly, her who in disguise wrought the unnatural and 
murderous deed. The power of Heaven maintains its 
empire, because it never favours the wicked. It is meet 
that we should reverence the sway of the Gods ' ; for we 
may now behold the light ; and the mighty chain which 
bound this house hath been broken. Uplift your heads 
then, ye palaces ; for far too long have ye been prostrate 
on the ground. Soon shall our full band enter with joy 
the portals of your dwellings, when unsparing purification 
shall have cleansed and banished every pollution from the 

nihil elatum et tragicum, nihil ad terrorem vel misericordiam confictum, 
quse utique summa fuisset modo post v. 907. matrem Orestes intro 
abripuisset." 

(l) "His dictis Orestem apparere fingit Interpres Gallus et apertis 
regife foribus iEgisthi et Clytemnestrso cadavera conspici unaque fatalem 
vestem adferri, qua irretitus Agamemnon interiit. Quibus visis Chorus 
in illas lretitia? voces erumpit, ITapa to $m? i$e?v. Eleganter hoc quidem, 
et ex illustrato scenrc apparatu, loco liuic difficillimo baud parum lucis 
accedit." — Butler. 



THE CHOEPHORvE. 205 

hearth, and it may be the fortune of the mourners to hear 
and see every thing under more smiling circumstances. 
The intruders who possessed this house shall fall into a 
reverse of their prosperity. It is now given us to behold 
the'light. 

orestes. — Behold the two tyrants of the country, and 
the murderers of my father, who have laid waste this 
house ! Proud were they in former times, when seated on 
their thrones ; and loving are they even now, as we may 
conjecture from the state in which they lie ; and the oath 
remains unbroken to their plighted faith. They swore, 
indeed, :to inflict death on my wretched father, and to 
perish together themselves; and this catastrophe is in 
accordance with their oath. But next behold, ye witnesses 
of these ills, the guileful contrivance, the chain of my 
unhappy father, both the fetters of his hands and the yoke 
in which his feet were bound ! Extend the fatal robe, and, 
standing near in a circle, display it to the view, that the 
Father — not mine, but the Sun, who surveys all these trans- 
gressions — may behold the atrocious deeds of my mother ; 
so that he may afterwards appear, in the hour of judgment, 
to attest, in my behalf, that 1 have pursued a just venge- 
ance in this death — I mean the death of my mother : for 
I name not that of iEgisthus, since he has only met, as he 
deserved, the punishment of an adulterer. But she who 
devised this hateful snare for a husband from whom she had 
borne the weight of children beneath her zone — children 
once dear, but now, as it seems, her hostile bane — what 
think you of her share in the deed ? Does she not seem, 
by reason of her audacity and guilty spirit, to have been 
a torpedo or viper, able to poison by its touch even an 
unwounded victim ? What shall I call this device, and 
succeed in giving it a right name ? — a snare for a wild 
beast, or a garment of the bath entangling the feet of the 
slain ? — a net, then, you might call it, and toils, and robes 
reaching to the feet. It is such a snare as might be pos- 
sessed by a robber, who was accustomed to defraud 
strangers, and to spend his life in plunder ; and slaying 



206 AESCHYLUS. 

many in such deceitful toils, he might oft rejoice his mind. 
May such a wife never be an inmate of my house ! but 
may I sooner perish, by the will of the Gods, without 
children ! 

chorus. — Alas ! alas ! for these mournful deeds ! Thou 
hast fallen by a cruel death ; but suffering shall also arise 
to the survivor. 

orestes. — Was he guilty, or was he innocent of the 
deed ? This robe, indeed, bears witness to me that the 
sword of iEgisthus tinged it with this hue ; for the stain of 
blood coincides with the date of the murder, having de- 
stroyed the many dyes of the splendid vest. Now do I 
approve of the deed, and now, with this spectacle be- 
fore me, I lament it ; and addressing this garment, by 
which my father was slain, I mourn indeed for both 
the crime and the punishment, and for all this race, 
feeling how little to be envied is the pollution of such 
a victory. 

chorus. — No one of mortals shall pass uninjured through 
a life exempt from pain ; for of sorrows, one visits us im- 
mediately, and another will soon come. 

orestes. — But, that you may know it, I am well aware 
how this will end. I drive, as if with horses, without the 
course : for ungovernable thoughts overpower and hurry 
me away, and terror in my heart is ready to sing and to 
dance in its phrensy. But while I yet retain my senses, 
I proclaim to my friends, and assert, that not without justice 
I slew a mother, who was polluted with my father s blood 
and abhorred of the Gods. And I vouch as my incitement 
to this daring the Pythian God of Oracles, who announced 
to me, that if I did this deed I should be free from the re- 
proach of guilt : but I will not tell with what punishments 
he threatened me, if I neglected it ; for no one can reach 
by conjecture such sufferings. And now do ye behold me, 
how, furnished with this suppliant bough and wreath, I 
am about to repair to the central seats of earth, the plain 
of Loxias, and the blaze of flame famed as eternal, seeking 
to escape the pollution of this kindred blood ? Apollo 



THE CHOEPHORJE. 207 

commanded me to betake myself to no other shrine. And 
I call all the Argives to witness, that these evils were dealt 
out by me after a long lapse of time. But I, a wanderer, 
and an exile from this land, living and dead shall have this 
fame 

chorus. — But having done well, neither compel your 
lips to utter words of evil omen, nor presage misfortune. 
You have freed all the city of the Argives, having success- 
fully cut off the heads of these two serpents. 

orestes. — Ah 1 ah ! behold them, ye handmaids, clad, 
like Gorgons, in sable robes, and w}th many snakes twining 
in their hair ! I can no longer endure the sight ! 

chorus. — What phantoms, O dearest of men to your 
father, agitate your mind ? Command your feelings : do 
not fear, after triumphing so far. 

orestes. — They are no unreal phantoms of horror that 
I behold ; for they are manifestly the angry Furies of my 
mother. 

chorus. — For the blopd is still fresh on your hands, and 
from this cause distraction assails your mind. 

orestes. — O king Apollo, their numbers thicken, and 
they drop loathsome blood from their eyes ! 

chorus. — There are means of purification ; and if you 
seek the aid of Apollo, he will deliver you from these 
horrors. 

orestes. — You, indeed, do not behold them ; but I behold 
them, and am driven away by them, and can no longer 
remain \ 

chorus. — But may you be fortunate ! and may the God, 
propitiously regarding you, defend your safety in these 
deadly calamities ! This third storm that hath blown on 
the race of this royal house hath at length ceased. The 
devouring of his children by the wretched Thyestes was 

(l) *' Aut Agamemnonius scenis agitatus Orestes, 
Armatam facibus matrem et serpentibus atris 
Cum fugit, ultricesque sedent in limine Dirje." 

Vhff. /En. IV. 471. 



208 AESCHYLUS. 

the first beginning of its sorrows. Next came the suffer- 
ings of our royal lord, and the warlike leader of the Greeks 
perished in the bloody bath. But now there hath come 
from some quarter a third preserver — or shall I not rather 
call him a destroyer ? Where in truth will calamity cease, 
or where extinguish its fury in repose ? 



THE FURIES 



PERSONS OF THE DRAMA. 



THE PYTHIAN PRIESTESS. 

APOLLO. 

ORESTES. 

GHOST OF CLYTEMNESTRA. 

CHORUS OF FURIES. 

MINERVA. 

ATTENDANTS. 



THE FURIES. 



PRIESTESS. 

I devote the first honours of this prayer to Earth, the 
earliest oracle of the Gods ; and next to Themis, who, as 
legends tell, inherited from her mother this seat of pro- 
phecy. But in third succession, Themis being willing and 
unconstrained by any one, Titanian Phoebe, another daugh- 
ter of Earth, occupied her throne ; and she gave it, at 
his natal hour, as a gift to Phcebus, who has also derived 
his name from Phoebe. Having left the lake and cliffs of 
Delos, and having landed in the harbours of the shores of 
Pallas, he came to this land, and to the seats of Parnassus : 
and the sons of Vulcan \ preparing his path, and smoothing 
/the rugged earth, conducted him on his way, and greatly 
adored his power. The people of this land, and Delphus 
its sovereign ruler, hailed his approach with highest ho- 
nours ; and Jupiter, having inspired his mind with the 
power of prophecy, places him the fourth oracular divinity 
on this throne, whence Loxias declares the will of his 
father Jupiter. These deities I honour the first in my 
prayers. But Pallas Pronaea 2 , who is famed in story, 
shall not be forgotten in my vows : and I adore the 

(1) " Athenienses, quibus passim gratulatur iEschylus, Vulcani vocat 
filios, quasi artium omnium peritissimos. Ni potius quia Ericthonius, a 
quo Athenienses, Vulcani erat filius." — Stanley. " Per KeXevOoiroioi 
xaute? c H0cno-Tof simpliciter intelligo fabros et id genus artifices merce- 
naries, viam salebrosam dimcilemque pompse sternentes et impedimenta 
omnia amoventes ad Delphum proficiscentibus. Locus est appositissimus 
Lucse in Evangelio ex prophetiis, iii. 4." — Wakefield. Butler con- 
tends for the former interpretation, and Schiitz for the latter; but the 
subject of dispute is unimportant, and the reader may take his choice as 
seems good to him. 

(2) This name is derived from the shrine which was dedicated to 
Minerva in front of the temple at Delphi. 

p 9 



212 AESCHYLUS. 

Nymphs who dwell in the cave of the Corycian rock, amid 
shades that are tuneful with birds and the haunt of Gods : 
for Bromius has possessed the region ; nor am I forgetful 
of it, from the time that the God led the bands of his votaries, 
and brought Pentheus, like a hare, into the toils of de- 
struction. I next invoke the fountains of Plistus l , and the 
might of Neptune 2 , and the perfect and supreme Jupiter: 
and now I proceed to occupy, as a prophetess, the sacred 
seat. May the Gods, then, grant that I now succeed much 
better than in any of my former approaches to the shrine ! 
And if any of the Greeks are present, let them come 
forward, as they obtain their turn by lot, according to our 

custom ; for I declare the oracles as the God directs me 

3 Horrors that are fearful to tell, and appalling to the sight, 
have sent me back from the temple of Loxias, so that I am 
neither able to stand nor to* advance my steps ; but I fly 
by the assistance of my hands, and not by the swiftness of 
my legs ; for an old woman in fear is nothing, and scarcely 
equals a child in strength. I indeed advanced to the 
sanctuary covered with garlands, and I behold a polluted 
mortal sitting as a suppliant at the central shrine, reeking, 
as to his hands, with blood, and bearing a sword fresh from 
the sheath, and a lofty branch of olive decorously wreathed 
with ample folds of wool, with the white fleece ; for I will 
thus clearly explain my meaning 4 . But before this man a 

(1) The river Plistus was, according to Apollonius, II. 711, the father of 
the Corycian Nymphs. 

(2) " Non sine ratione et Neptunum invocat, cujus prius fuerat urbs Del- 
phi, donee earn Calauria (Tsenaro, ut Strabo) permutaverat." — Stanley. 

(3) " Intelligendum est vatem ingressam templnm subito rediisse 
insanam, pavefactam et trementem." — Stanley. It was little consistent, 
however, with the tragic dignity to represent her crawling on her hands and 
feet ; but Euripides also does not scruple to bring Polymnestor on the stage 
in the same ridiculous attitude. Vid. Hec. v. 1041. 

(4) " Hactenus enim certa loquor : sequentia non teque certa ; at verba 

indicant." — Pauw. " Hoc est, sic enim explicate di.vi quod divcram : nee 

quidem infrequens est apud poetam nostrum ut, cum verba paulo 

duriuseula prius usurparet, interpretamentum ex verbo cui vulgi aures 

assueta? adderet. Sept. Theb. v. 495: 

v A\co 



THE FURIES. 213 

wondrous band of women sleep recumbent on the seats : — 
not women, but Gorgons I should call them; and yet 
I cannot exactly compare them to the forms of Gorgons. 
I have formerly seen the Harpies * represented in pictures, 
as flying away with the feasts of Phineus ; but those in the 
temple did not appear to have wings, and were black and 
utterly horrible. They snore with breathings which it 
were fatal to approach, and distil a loathsome venom from 
their eyes ; and their apparel is not such as ought to be 
worn, either before the images of the Gods or within the 
abodes of men. I am not acquainted with the country of 
this sisterhood, nor do I know what land can boast that it 
has reared them with impunity, so as not to lament here- 
after on account of troubles from its progeny 2 . Let the 
events that are now to arise be a care to the lord of this 
temple himself, to Loxias the great in might ; for he has 
divine power to heal, and is an interpreter of portents, 
and can cleanse from pollution the mansions of others 3 . 



"AAg> de iroWtjv, ao-TTiSos kvkXov \eyco, 

"Fi([>pi}-a Sivt]<ravTo<;. 

" Seipsum, eodem modo, explicat Euripides in Hecuba, v. 736 : 

Av<rrt]v €juavri]v yap Xeyoo, Xe<yov<rd <re 

'Ekci/?;/, rl Spaa-co ; 

"Per apyrJTi paWa igitur interpretatur to A^vet." — Stanley. The latter 
interpretation is clearly to be preferred. 

(1) We are informed by Paleephatus, a very foolish philosopher, who 
endeavoured to explain the romantic traditions of antiquity by historical 
facts, that Phineus, king of Pseonia, being old and blind, his daughters, 
Pyria and Erasia, wasted his wealth in wanton riot ; and that it was hence 
said that the Harpies snatched the viands from his table. A modern 
writer has more ingeniously conjectured, that the ravages of the locusts, 
which still abound in the ancient Pseonia, probably suggested to Grecian 
imagination the fable of the Harpies. 

(2) " Neque scio (hoc enim ex oVwira intelligitur) qucenam tellus jactare 
possit hoc genus impune alens, se non propter dolores inde enatos gemituram." 

SCHOLEFIELD. 

(3) " Bene heec supplementis illustravit Scholiastes. Si res medicina 
eget, medicus est; si divinatione, aruspex est; si expiatione, est is, qui 
lustrare et purgare valeat. rolo-iv aXKoiq Bcafjiarcov Ka6ap<rio<; potfst rxplicari : 
alias quoque a?des valet purgare, quanto magis suas axles hac Fnriarum 
ct Orestis prpcsentia contaminates." — Schutz. 



214 ^ISCHYLUS. 

APOLLO. 

I will not betray you ; but will continue, to the end, to be 
present as your defender, even when I am far distant ; and 
will not shew mercy to your enemies. You now behold 
your fierce pursuers sunk in lethargy ; and the accursed 
Sisters are overpowered by sleep, the ancient grisly Vir- 
gins, whom no God nor mortal, nor even wild beast, ever 
sought to embrace: for they were born for the sake of 
evil, and dwell in hateful gloom, in Tartarus, beneath the 
earth, the objects of horror to men and to the Olympian 
Gods. Fly, however, from their pursuit ; and do not faint 
under your toils; for they will follow you through the 
extended continent, though you should ever traverse the 
earth with wandering steps \ and beyond the sea and the 
islands that are washed by its waves. Do not therefore 
sink beneath the labours which you have undertaken ; but, 
going to the city of Pallas, take your seat as a suppliant, 
and embrace with your arms, the ancient image. Having 
there obtained judges of your cause and words that will 
soothe their minds, we will find means to free you for ever 
from these troubles : for I persuaded you to kill your 
mother. 

ORESTES. 

O king Apollo, you know to be just to your suppliants : 
and since you know it, learn also not to neglect me. Your 
power is my assurance that you will perform your pro- 
mises aright. 

apollo. — Remember that power, and let not fear subdue 
your mind. But do you, O Hermes my brother, who share 
my blood from a common father, defend this man ; and, in 
accordance with your name 2 , be his conductor, protecting 
with a shepherd's care this my suppliant. Jupiter honours 
your office, which was instituted by his laws, when you de- 
scend to mortals to conduct them to happy fortune 3 . 

(1) " Locum sic explico: perseqnciitur cnim tc per continentcm, (siquidem 
semper per terram vagis cxirsibus peragratam migraceris,) et iratis mare" &c. 

WSLLATOS. 

(2) " Qui deductor cognnminalus es, dux esfo ///tic." — Stan lev. 

(3) "Jupiter nimirum, qui hoc tibi venerandum munus tribuit, ipse te eoiii, 

hnnn 



THE FURIES. 215 

GHOST OF CLYTEMNESTRA. 

You would sleep, would you ? What need is there of 
sleepers ? I having thus, through your neglect, been marked 
with infamy among the other shades, because I slew my 
husband, the ignominy adheres to me among the dead, and 
I wander in dishonour ; and I tell you that I suffer the 
greatest reproach from those below. But no one of the 
Gods resents my wrongs, though I met with a cruel fate 
from those who were dearest, and perished by the murder- 
ous hands of a son. Regard then these words, as they fall 
on your heart ; for the soul of the sleeper can see without 
obscurity, though the race of mortals are dim in their 
visions by day. Ye have often indeed partaken of my 
sacrifices ; and I have poured for you the libation unmixed 
with wine, the temperate gift that soothes your wrath ; and 
in the solemn night have placed your banquet on the 
blazing altar, at an hour which communicates its rites to 
none of the other Gods. I now behold all these services 
unrequited and spurned ; for your prey has escaped, like 
the fawn from the hunter, and has lightly bounded from 
the middle of your toils, mocking your vain pursuit. Ye 
hear what I have said concerning my troubled spirit. O 
regard my prayer, ye Infernal Powers ! for I, Clytemnestra, 
invoke you in your dreams *. Snore on, if ye will 2 : but 



bona cum foriuna prqficiscentem, ut te hominibus ducem et comitem prqfitearis." 
— Schutz. " roSe <re(3a<;, hoc munus tuum (sc. ut sis Trtynraios) quod tibi 
legibus sancitum est.'''' — Scholefield. *'<re/3a? de jure supplicum in- 
telligendum est, quod a Jove ipso colatur. Sic Schol. et Butler, locum 
recte explicant, et hac ratione vocabula e* vo/mv recte se habent. Sensus 
est : Jupiter quoque supplices reveretur, quce reverentia ab eo ila projiciscitur, 
ut hominibus fausta itineris auspicia prcebeat." — Wellaueb. This last 
interpretation is very forced ; and we have preferred the meaning, such as 
it is, that is given to the passage by the two former Commentators. 

(1) " In somnio enim nunc vos Clytcemnestra voco. ,> — Butler. This plain 
and natural interpretation is infinitely to be preferred to the fanciful 
nonsense of Wakefield and Schutz. 

(2) " Voces pvy/jibs et <»y/uo? non pronuntiantur a Choro, prout Cantero 
visum est; sed tantum denotant Chorum inter dormiendum stertere et 
ronchum ciere." — Stanley. 



216 ^SCHYLUS. 

Orestes, is gone, and fled afar; and he and Apollo are 
suppliants to deities that are not friendly to me 1 . You 
slumber too long, nor pity my afflictions ; for Orestes, the 
murderer of his mother, has escaped. Do you snore ? Do 
you sleep ? Will you not quickly arise ? What office has 
been assigned to you, except the ministry of evil ? Sleep 
and toil, overpowering in their united influence, have de- 
stroyed the vigour of the furious dragon. 

CHORUS. 

Seize, seize, seize, seize, mark ! 

clytemnestra. — In dreams you pursue your prey; and 
moan like a hound, that not even in sleep forsakes the 
thoughts of the chase 2 . What are you about ? Arise ; let 
not toil overcome you, nor in the torpor of sleep remain 
ignorant of your loss. Let your heart feel the pain of just 
reproaches ; for they are incentives to the wise : and di- 
recting against the fugitive your deadly breath, blasting 
him with its exhalations, and scorching his entrails with 
fire, pursue his steps, and waste him to destruction in a 
second chase. 

LEADER OF THE CHORUS. 

Rouse, rouse also her, as I rouse you ! Do you sleep ? 
Arise ; and shaking off your slumbers, let us see if this 
prelude be true in its result. 

(1) "Sunt enim Mi (sc. Orestes et Apollo) supplices a pud Deos qui m\fu 
non amici sunt (sc. apud Minervam)." — Wellauer. 

(2) " Venantumque canes in molli ssepe quiete 

Jactant crura tamen subito, vocesque repente 
Mittunt, et crebras redducunt naribus auras, 
Ut vestigia si teneant inventa ferarum. 
Expergefactique sequuntur inania stepe 
Cervorum simulacra, fugro quasi dedita cernant, 
Donee discussis redeant erroribus ad se." Lucret. IV. 988 
" Et canis in somnis leporis vestigia- latrat." Pctron. Arbit. p. 4>">. 
"The stag-hounds, weary with the chase, 
Lay stretched upon the rushy floor, 
And urged, in dreams, the forest- race 
From Teviot-stone to Eskdale-moor." 

Lay of the Last Minslrel,1.2, 



THE FURIES. 217 

chorus. — * Alas ! alas ! we are undone, my friends. I 
truly have endured many and fruitless toils. We have 
suffered, O ye Gods ! a grievous loss, an intolerable wrong. 
The wild beast has escaped from the toils, and fled. Having 
yielded to sleep, I have lost my prey. O Son of Jove, you 
have been guilty of the theft ; and in the pride of youth 
you have insulted aged Divinities, reverencing the suppliant 
appeal of a mortal who is impious in his deeds, and the 
enemy of his parents. You have deigned, though a God, 
to rescue by stealth the murderer of a mother. Which of 
these proceedings will any one assert to be just ? Reproach 
has visited me in my dreams, and has struck me, like a 
charioteer with the severe lash, beneath the heart and the 
liver. I feel a deep and fearful horror of the bearer of the 
scourge, the hostile executioner. Such are the deeds of 
more youthful Gods, who exercise their power with utter 
violation of justice : and now we may behold the throne of 
Apollo, from its base to its summit, defiled with blood ; and 
the sacred centre of earth bearing the horrible pollution of 
murder, which it has taken on itself. By your own deed 
and choice you have contaminated the sanctuary of pro- 
phecy, of which you are the God, with the pollution of its 
altars ; honouring a mortal in defiance of the laws of Hea- 
ven, and trampling on the power of the ancient Fates. 
The God hath been severe to me : but yet he shall not 
deliver his votary ; and though he seek refuge beneath the 
earth, he shall not escape : for, even when my persecutions 

(1) "Hsec, quse sequuntur, non ab universo choro cantata esse, sed ab 
singulis personis a-iropaSijv prorumpentibus, et Schol. docet et sensus." — 
Wellauer. The Furies, as they separately awake, break into these 
wild and irregular expressions of grief and rage; and it is obvious that 
the effect of the scene must have been greatly heightened by the sudden 
starts and outcries having been assigned to the different intervals when 
they individually discovered their loss. Hermann is of opinion, that as 
the Furies were fifteen in number, the Chorus ought to be divided into 
as many sections ; but he has not pointed out to us where they begin and 
end ; and Wellauer has justly observed, that, after the opening verses, it is 
not easy to see how the succession is managed. 



218 jESCHYLUS. 

are past, the guilty dead shall find another avenging power 
to visit his transgressions on his head K 

apollo. — Depart with speed, I command you, from these 
abodes, and leave the prophetic sanctuary ; lest, receiving a 
wound from the swift and winged serpent 2 , rushing from 
the golden string, you should vomit, from pain, the dark 
foam which you have sucked from human veins, and dis- 
gorge the clotted gore which you have drank. It is not 
fitting that you should approach these abodes: but you 
ought to seek the scene where vengeance is rending the 
head from the trunk, and the eye from the socket ; where 
slaughter rages, where the vigour of youth is blasted by 
the destruction of the seed, where there are mutilations of 
limbs and stonings to death, and where men, impaled by 
the spine, utter many wretched groans. Do you hear, in 
what a feast delighting, you are the objects of horror to the 
Gods ? The whole nature of your form shews your dispo- 
sition 3 . It is fit that such beings should dwell in the cave 
of the blood-thirsty lion, and that their pollution should 
not remain in these adjoining seats of prophecy. Depart 
ye monsters, who wander without a shepherd ; for no one 
of the Gods desires the care of such a flock. 

chorus. — 4 royal Apollo, listen in turn to our reply. 

(1) Various meanings have been attached to this passage; but Schiitz, 
though his reading varies a little from our text, has fallen on the right in- 
terpretation : " Et cum gravi piaculo pollutus sit, post mortem etiam inveniet 
qui caput ejus miseris modis affligat." 

(2) This metaphor of course denotes the arrow; and, viewed with 
regard to the natural point of similarity, may be considered as rather 
forcible and happy. Schiitz, however, makes nonsense of it, by supposing 
that Apollo borrowed Ms figure from the snaky hair of the Furies, which 
was then twining in his view. 

(3) " Eumenides quibus anguino redimita capillo 

Frons exspirantis preeportat pectoris iras." 

Catull. de Nupt. Pel. et Thet. v. 193. 

(4) Abresch, in his zeal for the unities, supposes that this dialogue is 
carried on between Apollo and the Furies, as both parties are proceeding 
on their way to Athens. If the guileless critic were not struck with the 
absurdity of this notion, as far as the real scene is concerned, he might at 

least 



THE FURIES. 219 

You yourself are not in part the cause of these deeds ; but, 
as their sole author, have wholly brought them to pass. 

apollo. — How so ? Extend your words to such a length 
as to explain your meaning. 

chorus. — You commanded, in your oracles, that the 
guest of your temple should slay his mother. 

apollo. — I commanded, in my oracles, that he should 
inflict vengeance for his father. What then ? 

chorus. — You next undertook to protect the recent 
crime. 

apollo. — I enjoined him to seek refuge in these abodes. 

chorus. — And yet do you revile these attendants of his 
path? 

apollo. — rBecause it is not meet that you should ap- 
proach these abodes. 

chorus. — But this is our appointed duty. 

apollo. — What honour is this ? Proclaim your glorious 
office. 

chorus. — We drive the murderers of mothers from 
their homes. 

apollo. — What ? of a woman that has slain her husband ? 

chorus. — The blood of kindred should not be shed by 
kindred hands 1 . 

apollo. — You would slight then with dishonour, and set 
at nought, the nuptial sanctions of Jove, and of Juno, who 
perfects these rights : and Venus has been disowned with 
contempt in your words, though she dispenses to mortals 

least have reflected that there are limits to possibility in stage repre- 
sentation. 

(l) Scholefield has judiciously followed Wellauer, in assigning this line 
to the Chorus, instead of Apollo. The observations of the latter editor 
are in every respect satisfactory : " Non ex Apollinis persona est, ut 
Clytemnestrse csedes ab eo o/xcnjuo? avQevr^ vocetur, quae vocabula gravem 
accusationera continent. — Ad yvvau<b<; autem ex praecedente [xtjrpaXoia^ 
cujus loco MTpbs (froveis cogitatione substituendum est, repeti debet <povea. 
Quum enim Chorus dixisset : Matricidas ex cedibus expellimus, interrogat 
Apollo: num vero etiam interfectorem mulieris, quce suum ipsa maritum 
obtruncavit ? cui respondet Chorus : Neque ejus cades a consanguineo per- 
petrari debet. Huic sensui, qua) mox dicit Apollo, apprime conveniunt." 



220 jESCHYLUS. 

the dearest of joys ; for the nuptial couch, which is assigned 
by fate to husband and wife, if guarded by chastity, is of 
greater sanctity than an oath 1 . If, therefore, you own 
compassion for those who slay each other, and forbid not 
the deed, nor regard it with anger, I deny that you perse- 
cute Orestes with justice : for I know that you are violently 
enraged at one murder, and yet manifestly treat the other 
with less severity. But the Goddess Pallas shall regard 
the justice of the pleas. 

chorus. — I will never leave this man. 

apollo. — Pursue him then ; and waste superfluous toil. 

chorus. — Do not abridge my honours in your words. 

apollo. — I would not submit to accept of your honours. 

chorus. — For you are said to be mighty withal at the 
throne of Jove. But I — for a mother's blood impels 
me — will follow on the traces of this man, to exact my 
vengeance. 

apollo. — But I will aid, and will deliver, the suppliant : 
for if I voluntarily betray him, the wrath of the suppliant 
is dreadful, both among men and Gods. 

ORESTES. 

2 Queen Minerva, I have approached your shrine by 

(1) "Apollo here speaks like the God of Wisdom. If Orestes was to 
be pursued with their vengeance, because he slew his mother ; whilst they 
were favourable to that mother, though she had murdered her husband ; 
they dishonoured Juno, the Goddess presiding over marriage, the nuptial 
treaties ratified by Jupiter, and the sweet endearments of Venus, more 
sacred than the oath with which the treaty was confirmed." — Potter. 

(2) " Notandum est, scenam jam Athenas translatam sic institui, ut 
primo Orestes solus conspiciatur in templo Minervse supplex ejus simu- 
lacrum venerans ; paulo post autem eum consequantur Eumenides, quse 
initio quidem eum nondum oculis conspiciunt, sed vestigia tantum san- 
guinis odoratse eum haud procul abesse conjiciunt, donee eum v. 248, sqq. 
oculis quoque deprehendant."— Schutz. Some of the Commentators, in 
granting that the unity of place is thus violated, maintain that the unity 
of time is preserved ; as Orestes may be supposed to have been conveyed, 
as quick as thought, by the agency of Mercury. The Chorus, however, 
enter immediately after, complaining of their long journey, and panting 
with fatigue : and as they had run on scent, and not by sight, their course 
cannot be supposed to have been very quick. 



THE FURIES. 221 

the commands of Apollo ; and do you receive with favour 
a suppliant who has been guilty of murder, but who bears 
not now its pollution, nor has his hand unpurified ; since 
his offences have already lost their rankness, and been 
effaced in other abodes, and by intercourse with men ! 
Having alike passed over land and sea, in obedience to the 
oracular commands of Apollo, I approach, O Goddess, 
your temple and image : and here abiding, I will await the 
decision of my cause. 

leader of the chorus. — Ho ! here are the clear traces 
of the man. Follow, then, the information of our silent 
guide : for as the hound pursues the wounded hind, so we 
track our prey by the falling drops of blood. But my 
bosom pants beneath these many deadly toils ; for every 
part of the land has been traversed with care ;"and I have 
pursued as fast as a ship \ in my wingless flight'over the 
sea. And now he is lurking somewhere in this place : the 
scent of human blood floats deliciously around me. 

chorus. — Watch, watch, with care: look in every di- 
rection, lest the slayer of his mother escape by flight 
from our revenge. Having again obtained protection, and 
having embraced the image of the immortal Goddess, he 
wishes to submit to trial for his crime. But this claim shall 
not be granted ; for the blood of a mother cannot, alas ! be 
recalled from the ground; and the liquid stream of life \ 
when it has flowed to the earth, is for ever perished. You 
must suffer us, in return, to drain from your living limbs 
a red libation of gore : for I demand from your veins the 
banquet of that deadly draught; and having consumed 
your strength, I will bear you, a living victim, to the realms 

( 1 ) Or, fast upon his ship ; a meaning which is favoured by the inter- 
pretation of the learned K. O. Miiller : 

" Alles Land durchschweiften wir 

Und durch die Meerflut, immer nach dem schnellem Schiff, 
Lenkt' ich verfolgend meinen fliigellosen Flug." 

(2) " Non solum id quod liquidum est, quod in terram effusum, tolli et 
colligi nequit ; sed Siepov, ut ex Hesychio liquet, significat etiam vitalem 
sanguinem, quod nos Anglice dicimus, The life's blood."— Butler. 



222 AESCHYLUS. 

of the dead. You atone, by penal retribution, for the 
wrongs of a murdered mother : and you shall see, if any 
other mortal has sinned by impiety towards the Gods, or 
a guest, or his dear parents, that each meets in the shades 
with his due reward. For the mighty Pluto calls mortals 
to account beneath the earth ; and he observes all their 
deeds, with a recording mind. 

orestes. — Being instructed by my misfortunes, I know 
many purifications, and to speak where it is proper, and in 
like manner to be silent ; but in this matter I have been 
taught to utter my sentiments, by a wise master. The blood 
sleeps, and its stain fades from my hands, and the pollution 
of a mother's murder has been washed away ; for while it 
was recent, it was removed, at the altar of Apollo, by the 
expiatory sacrifices of swine ; and it would be a long tale to 
me to relate, from the beginning, to how many I have since 
approached with innocuous intercourse. Time, as it wears 
away, purifies all things in its course. And now, with pure 
lips and well-omened prayer, I invoke Minerva, the queen 
of this land, to come to my aid : and she shall gain, without 
conquest, both me and my country, and the Argive people, 
justly faithful to her friendship, and bound to her alliance 
for ever. But whether in the regions of the Lybian land, 
by the flowing streams of her native Triton ' she is seated 
in repose, or advances her steps to the aid of her friends, 
or whether like a valiant leader chief she surveys the plains 
of Phlegra 2 , let her come — and, being a Goddess, she can 
hear though afar — that she may be my deliverer from 
these dangers. 

chorus. — Neither shall Apollo nor the might of Minerva 
deliver you, so as not to perish neglected, not knowing 
where to seek for joy in your mind, the bloodless prey of 
the Infernal Powers, a shadow. Do you refuse to reply, 
and disdain my words, you who are nourished for my 

(1) The river Triton, on the banks of which Minerva was born, is 
variously placed, in Africa, Crete, and Boeotia. 

(2) It was in the plains of Phlegra that Minerva overthrew Enceladus 
and his host of giants. 



THE FURIES. 223 

victim and devoted to my vengeance ? You shall furnish 
my banquet from your living veins, without being slain at 
the altar ; and you shall hear this hymn, that binds you with 
its charms. Come then, let us also weave the dance 1 ; since 
it has been resolved that we should pour forth our strains 
of horror, and declare how our band fulfils its destined 
office among men, and how we delight in being the ministers 
of inflexible justice. No wrath from us pursues him who 
possesses pure hands, and the innocent passes through life 
secure from harm : but whosoever, being stained with sin, 
like this man, conceals a murderer s hands, we appear as 
faithful witnesses to the dead, and arise as the fatal 
avengers of blood to the guilty. Mother ! O Mother Night ! 
who hast brought me forth a curse to the living and the 
dead, listen to my wrongs ! for the son of Latona robs me 
of my honours, by rescuing from my pursuit this trembling 
prey, this wretch who is justly devoted to destruction for the 
murder of a mother. But let us wake over the victim this 
strain, that is fraught with phrensy, delirium, and madness 
of the mind ; this hymn of the Furies, that binds the spirit 
by its spell, discordant to the notes of the lyre, and blasting 
to the life of man. For prevailing Fate has assigned to us, 
as our fixed office, that we should pursue those by whom 
the blood of kindred has been rashly shed, until the 
murderer descend to shades ; and even in death he is not 
too free from our power. But let us wake over the 
victim this strain, that is fraught with phrensy, delirium, 
and madness of the mind ; this hymn of the Furies, that 
binds the spirit by its spell, discordant to the notes of the 
lyre, and blasting to the life of man. This office was 
assigned to us by Fate, at our birth : but we were com- 
manded to restrain our hands from the Immortals, nor will 
any other Power deign to share our feasts. And I own 
no portion nor possession of white garments ; for I have 
chosen to work the overthrow of houses, when Mars, being 

( l ) Schiitz has justly compared this scene to the song and dance of the 
Witches in Macbeth. 



224 AESCHYLUS. 

kindred, shall have slain a friend : for then, O Sisters, 
pursuing the murderer, though he be powerful, we in like 
manner destroy him by a new shedding of blood. We 
strive to withhold from all others the execution of this 
office ; and to prevent any of the Gods from fulfilling the 
prayers which are addressed to us, or appearing as arbiters 
of our causes. For Jupiter disdains to have intercourse 
with the execrable race whose hands are stained with 
blood : but I, bounding: swiftlv from afar, descend to earth 
with heavy impulse of the foot, and overthrow with intolera- 
ble ruin the guilty, who vainly fly with trembling limbs. 
And the thoughts of men, which tower proudly to heaven, 
moulder and decay with dishonour beneath the earth, when 
we approach in our sable garments, and begin the accursed 
dance with our feet. But our victim, as he falls, knows not 
his ruin in the delirium of his mind, such a hateful dark- 
ness hovers over him ; and rumour, with many a groan, 
soon proclaims that the thickest shades have enveloped his 
house. For our power remains; and, fertile in resource' 
and persevering in our purpose, bearing in awful memory 
the deeds of evil, and implacable to the prayers of mortals, 
we minister in a loathsome and ignominious office, remote 
from the fellowship of the Gods, guided by a sunless torch, 
and pursuing paths that are full of terror both to the living 
and the dead. Who, then, of mortals is not inspired with 
reverence and fear as he hears of my office, which was 
sanctioned by fate, and immutably assigned by the Gods ? 
for my honours are of ancient date ; nor do I meet with 
indignity, although I hold my appointed reign beneath the 
earth, and dwell in shades that never see the sun. 

MINERVA. 

I heard the voice of invocation beside the distant shores 
of Scamander 1 , where I possess the land, an ample portion 
of the spoils of war, which the leaders and chiefs of the 

(1) The Athenians built a temple to Minerva on the promonotory <-t 
Sigeum ; which was assigned to them, after the destruction of Troy, is 
their portion of the conquered country. 



THE FURIES. 225 

Greeks assigned to me in full and perpetual possession, a 
chosen gift to the children of Theseus. Thence have I 
come, urging my unwearied course ; having impelled with- 
out wings my extended aegis through the rushing air, and 
having yoked this chariot to vigorous steeds. And now, 
having beheld the band that is present in this scene, I feel 
no alarm, but I marvel at the sight. Who, I demand, are 
you ? T speak to all in common ; both to this stranger who 
sits a suppliant at my image, and to you, who resemble no 
race of created beings, and who are neither seen among 
Goddesses by Gods, nor yet bear any likeness of the human 
form. But to speak evil of others, if they deserve not our 
censure 1 , is far from right; and justice revolts at it. 

chorus. — O daughter of Jove ! you shall learn, in a few 
words, all that you wish to know : for we are the daughters 
of gloomy Night, and we are called Furies in the abodes 
beneath the earth. 

minerva. — I know your race and name, accordant with 
your nature. 

chorus. — And you shall quickly be informed, too, of my 
honours. 

minerva. — I desire to know them, if any one will describe 
them in plain words. 

chorus. — We drive the murderers of men from their 
homes. 

minerva. — And what is the limit of persecution to the 
slayer ? 

chorus. — Where joy is no more known. 

minerva. — Do you destine such persecution for this man ? 

chorus. — We do ; for he has claimed, as his right, to be 
the murderer of his mother. 

minerva. — Did he not dread the wrath of some other 
necessity ? 

chorus. — Where could there be so strong an incentive 
as to make him slay a mother ? 

minerva. — I cannot tell ; for, of two sides of the question, 
I have only heard one. 

(1) " afio/jKpov activo sensu accipiendum est : Sed maledioere aliis, si nihil 
habes, quod reprehendas, injnstum est." — Weli.aukb. 

Q 



226 AESCHYLUS. 

chorus. — But he is not willing either to give or take an 
oath l . 

menerva. — You wish to be just in reputation, rather 
than your actions 2 . 

chorus. — How so ? Explain your meaning ; for you are 
not in want of wise words. 

minerva. — I say, that what is unjust shall not prevail 
from the force of an oath. 

chorus. — But examine the merits of the case, and ad- 
judge according to strict justice. 

minerva. — Would you refer even to me the decision of 
the cause ? 

chorus. — Why not? since we esteem you worthy, on 
account of your worthy deeds. 

minerva. — What, O stranger, do you wish to answer, in 
your turn, to these accusations? After having declared your 
country and your lineage, and your fortunes, proceed to 
repel this charge, if, confident in the justice of your cause, 
you have sat down, embracing this image, beside my altar, 
a sacred suppliant, according to the rites of Ixion 3 . To 
all these, reply with words that may be easily understood 
by me. 

(1) " Observat ritus curise Areopagiticse : tenebatur enim reus jurare se 
csedis auctorem non fuisse. Lysias, Orat. in Theomnestum, 'O pev ^ap 
Siojkcov o>5 eKreive §io/mvvTai, 6 §e cjyevyoov w? ovk eWe/ve." — Stanley. " Earn 
conditionem sibi a te oblatam, ut juret, vix acceperit, jusjurandum enim prce- 
stare non vult." — Wellauer. " Cum sane sit litium omnium terminus 
jusjurandum, fatemur te proba dicere : Me autem has conditiones respuet ; 
nam juratus inficias ire non poterit se matrem interjicere. , ' > — Wakefield. 

(2) " Cum dixisset Minerva se unam tantum partem audivisse, a'quum 
verb esse ut alteram etiam audiat, earn interpellant Eumenides, negantque 
Orestem in jus secum velle descendere, quarum quidem responsum, 
utpote paulo iniquius in Orestem, segre ferens Minerva, regerit, At tu 
quidem malle justi audiri videris quam facere ; si enim juste ageres, Oresti 
facultatem pro se respondendi concederes." — Butler, 

(3) All mortals were so incensed at the cruel treachery with which Ixion 
put to death his father-in-law Deiontfus, that they refused to administer 
to him the rites of purification. Jupiter, however, felt compassion for the 
wretched outlaw ; and not only purified him on earth, but admitted him to 
ppavpn. where Ixion repaid his kindnpss by •*ttp.muting to seduce Juno. 



THE FURIES. 227 

orestes. — O queen Minerva! I will first remove the 
great care which you manifest in your last words. I am 
not polluted, nor does the stain of blood adhere to my 
hand, as I sit, a suppliant, beside your image. I will offer 
to you a great proof of the truth of my words. It is the 
law, that the homicide should be silent, until the sacrifice of 
a young victim shall have been offered by a man who is 
qualified to cleanse from blood. We have long since had 
these rites performed in other temples, both with sacrificed 
victims and flowing libations. I thus dismiss, by my words, 
this anxiety from your mind; and you shall quickly be 
informed whence my lineage is derived. I am an Argive ; 
and you well know my father Agamemnon, the leader of 
the naval warriors ; with whom you dismantled of its towers 
the Trojan city of Ilium. He died ignominiously, when 
he returned home : for my dark-souled mother slew him, 
having involved him in deceitful toils ; and she was present, 
as a witness \ at the slaughter of the bath. But I, who 
had in previous time been an exile, then returning home, 
put to death my mother, I will not deny it, exacting retri- 
bution for the murder of my dearest father. Apollo, how- 
ever, must be charged in common with the deed ; for he 
announced that many sharp pains would pierce my heart, 
if I did not wreak such vengeance on the guilty. But do 
you, whether justly or not, declare your award ; for, having 
committed my cause to you, I shall by all means abide by 
your decision. 

m[nerva. — This question is too difficult, if any mortal 
thinks that he can decide it ; nor is it lawful for me to 
determine the pleas of blood and vengeance, especially 
since you, though you have made expiation, approach to 
my temple as a pure and unpolluted suppliant. I would, 
therefore, if you are free from blame, admit you to the 
protection of this State : but these Beings are not such as 
may be easily repulsed ; and if they do not obtain the vic- 
tory, the poison which hereafter will be shed, . from their 

(l ) Or, she avowed, and justified, the slaughter of the bath. 
Q2 



228 jESCHYLUS. 

fury, on our plains, will prove a dire and intolerable pest 1 . 
Such, indeed, is the case, if both remain ; and to send either 
away, without incurring calamity, is beyond my power. 
But, since the care of this matter has lighted on me, I will 
institute 2 a tribunal for all succeeding time; and select 
judges, who shall make trial of murder on oath. Do you, 
therefore, prepare your proofs and evidences, that will 
support your rights on oath : and I will come, after having 
selected the best of my citizens, who will well and truly 
try this matter, and who will not with injustice transgress 
an oath in their minds. 

chorus. — There shall now be a change from ancient to 
new laws 8 , if the cause and crime of this matricide shall 
prevail. His example will make all mortals prone to similar 
deeds 4 ; and in future time many inevitable sufferings from 
the wounds of children await parents. For no wrath from 
the avenging Furies shall visit the sins of men ; and I will 
grant impunity to every crime of blood. One shall hear 
from another, as he declares the evil deeds of his kindred, 
that toils succeed to toils, and that relief is no longer cer- 
tain. The wretched shall seek consolation in vain. Nor 
let any one who is struck with calamity invoke us with these 
words, O Justice ! and O throne of the Furies ! for haply 
some father, or mother, as she meets her doom, might utter 
this plaintive appeal, since the house of justice is overthrown. 
Can it be, that any one will longer dread, as he ought, the 
power of conscience, which sits as guardian of the mind ? 
It is good to learn wisdom from affliction : but who that 
bears no sorrow in the serene breast, either city or mor- 
tal, would any longer revere justice 5 ? Praise neither 

(1 ) " Harum verd ea est ratio, ut non facile dimitti possint ; et si victoria 
eis non contigerit, regioni huic venerium ex prcecordiis earum i?i terrain 
delapsum atra pestis erit." — Wellauek. 

(2) The Arundelian Marbles place the institution of the Areopagus in 
the reign of Cranaus, who flourished long before the time of Orestes. 

(3) " Nunc revolutiones novarum legum, h. e. veteres abolentur, et novse 
in locum earum invaserunt." — Scholefield. 

(4) " Faciet ut idem f acinus omries facile audeant." — Abresch. 

(5) " Mihi loci sensus hie vidctur : Saluberrimion est in angore et suspiriis 

sapere 



THE FURIES. 229 

a life that is free from controul, nor that which is at the 
mercy of another's thrall. The God hath assigned the 
victory to every mean ; but he regards the extremes with an 
altered eye. In accordance with this sentiment, I declare, 
that insolence is truly the child of impiety ; but that from a 
healthy mind arises the happiness that is dear to all, and 
courted by many prayers. But altogether I would further 
admonish you, that you reverence the altar of justice, nor, 
looking to gain, spurn it with impious foot ; for punishment 
will follow, and an inevitable doom awaits the guilty. Let 
each, therefore, duly honour the sanctity of parents, and 
regard the rights of the guest who seeks the hospitality of 
his house K He who is just on these principles shall not, 
without some fatal necessity, become unhappy ; and, at the 
worst, he shall never sink beneath utter ruin. But I assert, 
that he who, on the contrary, dares to transgress these 
laws, and who, without justice, confounds right and wrong, 
shall at length perish by a violent fate, when the storm shall 
smite the sail of his broken sail-yard. Then shall he invoke 
those who are deaf to his prayers, in the midst of the resist- 
less whirlpool ; but the God shall laugh to scorn that auda- 
cious mortal, seeing him, who never expected such a fate, 
involved in inextricable calamities, and unable to escape to 
the shore : for having made shipwreck of his former hap- 
piness on the rock of justice, he perishes for ever, unwept 
and unknown. 

minerva. — Make proclamation, Herald, and restrain the 
crowd; and let the notes of the Tuscan trumpet 2 pierce 

sapere discere ; quis verd, si nullum (sc. suspirium, a-revoq) alit in animo hilari 
{<{>doq de laetitia dictum, ut ssepissime o-kotos de tristitia) justitiam colat ?" — 

Wellauer. 

(1) Orestes had violated the first precept, by the murder of Clyte- 
mnestra ; and the second, by that of iEgisthus, to whom he obtained access 
on the privilege of a guest. 

(2) Sophocles and Euripides also talk of the Tuscan trumpet, as being 
known in Greece at the Trojan sera; but Stanley has learnedly proved 
that this instrument was not known or introduced till a later age It 
would be well if we had not to charge our author, and his illustrious suc- 
cessors, with more flagrant anachronisms. 



230 tESCHYLUS. 

the sky, as, filled with mortal breath, it declares its thrilling 
summons to the people. For when this Council is fully 
assembled, it is good to be silent, and that all the city should 
learn for ever my laws; and that this suppliant should 
attend to them, in order that his cause may be righteously 
decided. 

chorus. — O king Apollo! administer the affairs that 
acknowledge your right. Tell what you have to do with 
this matter. 

apollo. — I have come to bear witness : for this man was 
the suppliant of my altars, and sought the protection of my 
courts, and I purified him from the stain of blood : and 
I have also come to justify myself along with him ; for I 
bear the blame of the murder of his mother. But do you 1 
open the proceedings, as you know is right, and bring the 
decision to an issue. 

mtnerva. — It is with you 2 to speak, though I open the 
proceedings 3 ; for the plaintiff, by first stating the case, 
may best inform us of its facts. 

chorus. — We are many, but we will speak in few words ; 
and do you reply, adapting your answer, in turn, to the 
question. Say, first, if you slew your mother. 

orestes. — I slew her : of that there is no denial. 

chorus. — Thus, then, we win the first of three falls 4 . 

orestes. — You utter this boast over an adversary who is 
not yet thrown. 

chorus. — But you must also tell how you slew her. 

orestes. — I will tell what you ask : with the sword in 
my hand, I pierced her neck. 

(1) Minerva. 

(2) The Furies. 

(3) " Hoc scilicet erat pnesidis judicii officium, reis copiam dicendi 
facere, ac/ deinde judices in suffragia mittere." — Schutz. There is no 
term used in modern judicature which properly expresses the sense of 
the original. 

(4) In the public games of Greece, the wrestler who threw his anta- 
gonist thrice was declared the winner. As Orestes pleads guilty to the 
indictment, one ^important point is gained by his prosecutors, who appear, 
in consequence, to fool secure of victory. 



THE FURIES. 231 

chorus. — By whom were you persuaded ? and whose 
counsels did you follow. 

orestes. — The oracles of this God, who will bear witness 
to me of the truth. 

chorus. — Did the prophet instigate you to the murder 
of your mother ? 

orestes. — As far as this is concerned, I shall never blame 
my fortune. 

chorus. — But if the vote shall condemn you, you will 
perhaps speak in a different strain. 

orestes. — I fear not the event ; for my father will send 
aid to me from the tomb. 

chorus. — You, who have slain a mother, do well to trust 
in the dead. 

orestes. — I slew her because she bore the stain of two 
pollutions. 

chorus. — How so ? Inform the judges of your meaning. 

orestes. — When she slew her husband, she slew also 
my father 1 . 

chorus. — But you indeed live to suffer; while she is 
free, by her death, from the punishment of murder. 

orestes. — Why then did you not persecute her when 
she was alive? 

chorus. — She was not of the same blood with the man 
whom she slew. 

orestes. — But am I of the same blood with my mother ? 

chorus. — How else 2 , O miscreant ! could she have 

(1) "Patrem interficiens me interfecit, qui pars sum patris, et filius 
in patre interfectus sum : Pater et filius habentur pro una persona, notis- 
simum est in Jure Romano : et talis fictio etiam hie." — Pauw. Potter 
has the complaisance to characterize this strange nonsense as " a judi- 
cious observation of Pauw." Our author shews a sufficient inclination, 
in this scene, to quibble of his own accord, without being assisted by the 
fictions of the later Roman Law, with which it is ingeniously presumed 
that he was well acquainted. Wakefield has concisely expressed the whole 
sense of the passage : '* Homo, quern interfecit, ipsi maritus erat, et 
mihi pater." 

(2) " Sensus est: Quo modo enim mater te in utcro gestans nutrivit, nisi 
cum sanguine swo." — Schwenck. 



232 AESCHYLUS. 

nourished you in her womb ? Do you disown the dearest 
blood of a mother ? 

orestes. — Do you now, O Apollo, bear witness ; and de- 
clare for me, if I slew her with justice. For we will not 
deny the deed, since it is done. But do you make answer, 
whether this blood seems, to your mind, to have been shed 
justly or not, that I may plead it to these judges. 

apollo. — I will speak without deceit to you, this great 
Council of Minerva ; and, being a prophet, I will not lie. I 
have never uttered aught from my oracular seat, concern- 
ing man, or woman, or city, except what Jupiter, the father 
of the Olympian Gods, has commanded 1 . I admonish you, 
therefore, to consider how great is the power of this justice, 
and to follow the counsel of the Father ; for an oath is not 
of greater weight than Jupiter. 

chorus. — Did Jupiter, as you assert, dictate this oracle, 
that you should command Orestes to avenge the murder 
of his father, and to bear no reverence to his mother ? 

apollo. — For it is by no means the same thing with the 
death of a woman, that a noble hero should fall, who is 
honoured by Jupiter with the trust of the sceptre; and 
should fall too by a woman, though not by the attack of the 
far-darting bow, like the deed of an Amazon, but as you, 
O Pallas, shall hear, and those who sit to decide by their 
vote concerning this matter. For, having welcomed him 
with the bath when he returned from the war, where he 
had conducted all things better than can be told, she flung 
a garment around him as he left the bath and stood by its 
side, and slew her husband when she had entangled him 
in that inextricable and treacherous robe. I have thus 
described to you the fate of a chief who was renowned 
among all, the leader of the warlike fleet ; and I have 
painted his murderess in such colours, that the Council 



(l) " Accipite ergo, animis atque heec mea figite dicta ^ 
Qua) Phoebo pater omnipotens, mibi Phoebus Apollo 
Preedixit, vobis Furiarum ego maxima pando." 

Virg. JEn.'xn. 250. 



THE FURIES. 233 

which has been appointed to judge this cause may feel a 
just indignation. 

chorus. — Jupiter, according to your account, pays the 
greater regard to the death of a father : and yet he hound 
in chains his aged father Saturn. How do you not allege 
this preference, contrary to that example ! I call upon you 
who are the judges to mark these words. 

apollo. — O monsters, detested by all, and abhorred by 
the Gods ! might not any one undo the fetters ? Relief 
may be obtained from such an evil, and there are a thou- 
sand methods of deliverance : but when the dust has once 
drunk the life-blood of man, no one can again bid the dead 
arise. My father has invented no charms that will recall 
life, though he destroys and renews all other things besides 
without fatigue of his might. 

chorus. — See, then, how you defend him from being 
banished for his crime. Shall he who shed the kindred 
blood of a mother on the ground afterwards inhabit the 
house of his father in Argos ? Which of the public altars 
shall he dare to approach ? What tribe will admit him 
to its lustral waters ? 

apollo. — I will also declare this ; and do you mark how 
justly I speak. The mother is not the parent of what is 
called her child \ but only the nurse of the infant germ ; for 
the male begets the offspring; while the female, like a 
stranger for a stranger, preserves the plant, when some God 
does not mar the increase. I will give you a proof of my 
assertion : there may be a father without a mother ; for 
here, as an example, is the daughter of Olympian Jove, who 
was never nourished in the darkness of the womb, and yet 
is such an offspring as no Goddess could have produced. 
But I, O Pallas, will both in other respects, as far as I am 
able, increase the glory of your state and people : and I 
have sent this man, as a suppliant, to your temple, that he 

(l) "Quamvis partus nominatus sit matris re/cvov, quasi TOKeus ilia 
fuerit."— Wakefield. Both the physics and metaphysics of Apollo are 
excessively absurd ; and we should not easily discover, from his theory of 
generation, that he was the God either of Medicine or Wisdom. 



234 AESCHYLUS. 

may be for ever after a faithful adherent ; and that you 
may acquire him, O Goddess, and his descendants, to your 
alliance ; and that this covenant may abide for ever, and be 
cherished with fidelity by the future generations of either 
people *. 

minerva. — I now request these judges to pass a just 
vote according to their true opinion; since enough has 
been said. 

chorus. — To us, indeed, every shaft has been already 
shot ; but I wait to hear how the trial will be decided. 

minerva. — Yet why ? for, how decreeing, shall I be un- 
blamed by you ? 

chorus. — You have heard what you have heard, O 
strangers ! and, as you give your sentence, revere in 
heart the oath. 

minerva. — -You may now hear the law, O citizens of 
Athens, who are to decide in this first trial for the shedding 
of blood : and this Council of judges shall ever remain in 
future to the people of ^Egeus 2 . The Amazons chose this 
hill of Mars as their seat and encampment, when they came 
in hostile array through hatred of Theseus, and then reared 
their fortifications against the towers of the new 3 city, and 
offered sacrifices to Mars, whence this rock and hill bear 
the name of the God. Within these precints the reverence 
of the citizens, and their fear in unison, shall restrain them 
from injustice, alike by night and day, if the people 
themselves do not change the laws. If you pollute the 
pure fount with baser streams and with mud, you will never 
be able to drink of its waters. Imparting to my citizens 
neither anarchy nor tyranny, I admonish them to respect 

(1) "Tc3v5e, horum civium qui adsunt." — Pauw. " Horum, et Athe- 
niensium, et Argivorum ; respicit enim foedus inter Argivcw et Athe- 
nienses initum." — Butler. 

(2) iEgeus was the father of Theseus. 

(3) " avTeirvpycoa-av est turres oppositas fecerunt turribus nova; iirbis, a 
Tlieseo extructre et recenter adornata?, cum Athenienses in unum con- 
gregasset, et priscas illas Athenas plurimis redificiis ac muris amplifi- 
casset." — Bt'ti.ku. 



THE FURIES. 235 

this tribunal, and not to cast forth all reverential fear from 
the city. For who of mortals that owns no fear is just in 
his deeds ? If, therefore, you preserve a righteous awe for 
the majesty of this institution, you will possess a defence of 
your country, and a safeguard of your city, such as no men 
enjoy, either among the Scythians or in the realms of 
Pelops 1 . I have appointed this Council, incorruptible by 
gain, swayed by honour, and severe in punishment, that it 
might protect this land with a wakeful care for those who 
are slain. I have delivered this lengthened speech as an 
exhortation to my citizens for the future : and it is now 
fitting that you should arise and give your votes, and 
decide the trial. My charge has been given to men that 
revere an oath. 

chorus. — I advise you by no means to slight the evils 
that will flow from our presence in this land. 

apollo. — And I warn you to revere my oracles and those 
of Jove, and not to deprive them of effect. 

chorus. — But you make matters of blood your care, 
though you have no right to such office : and if you remain 
here, you will no longer utter pure oracles. 

apollo. — Did my father err in his counsels, though he 
listened, after the first murder, to the supplications of 
Ixion? 

Chorus. — You may say as you please; but if I fail 
to obtain justice, my terrors shall hereafter haunt this 
land. 

apollo. — But you are without honour, both among the 
new and more ancient Gods ; and I shall prevail in this 
contest. 

chorus. — Such also were your deeds in the house of 
Pheres 2 , when you persuaded the Fates to exempt mortals 
from death. 

(1) iEschylus probably alludes to the Scythian Anacharsis and the 
Spartan Lycurgus ; though neither of these legislators existed till long after 
the time of Orestes. 

(2) Admetus, whose wife Alcestis was restored to life by the agency 
of Apollo, was the son of Pheres. 



236 jESCHYLUS. 

apollo. — Is it not right to confer benefits on a votary, 
both at all other times, and especially when he stands in 
need of assistance ? 

chorus. — You mocked the power of the ancient Deities, 
having deceived with wine the aged Goddesses. 

apollo. — You will quickly, when you lose this decision, 
vomit forth a poison that hurts not your enemies. 

chorus. — Since, in the pride of youth, you insult my age, 
I will wait to hear the issue of this trial ; for I am doubtful 
whether I ought to be angry with this State. 

minerva. — It is my part to be the last in adjudging the 
cause ; but I will give Orestes the help of my vote. For 
there is no mother who brought me forth : and with all my 
soul I commend the male in all things, except in the union 
of marriage ; and I am devoted to the cause of the father ! . 
I will not, therefore, set a higher value on the fate of a 
woman who slew a husband, the guardian of the house. 
But Orestes triumphs, even if the votes be equal in the 
decision 2 . Let those to whom the office of judges has 
been assigned produce, as quickly as possible, the lots from 
the urns. 

orestes. — O Phoebus Apollo! how will this cause be 
determined ? 

chorus. — O Night, our gloomy mother ! dost thou regard 
these doings. 

orestes. — Now must I meet the doom of strangling, or 
live to see the light 3 . 

chorus. — And now must our power be overthrown, or 
victory permit us to administer our office in future. 

apollo. — Count rightly the votes, as they issue from the 

(1) Or, "I am devoted to my father." It appears at least to be taken 
in this sense by Wakefield, who gives this ludicrous translation : "lam a 
chip of the old block." 

(2) "" Nempe si 9uffragia essent utrimque requalia, suum ipsius suflra- 
gium Orestis causae adjectum Minerva prrevaliturum decernit. " — Schutz. 

(3) Wakefield and Pauw perversely ascribe this speech to the Furies ; 
the former, that he might support an emendation ; the latter, that he might 
have an opportunity of railing at the author. 



THE FURIES. 237 

urns ; and study, O strangers, that there be no fraud in the 
division. 

chorus. — The calamity is great, if the judgment be un- 
favourable ; and the difference of one vote ruins or restores 
a house *. 

minerva. — This man has escaped the doom of blood ; 
for the number of votes is equal. 

orestes. — O Pallas, you have preserved my house, and 
restored me, from exile, to the seats of my native land. Now 
shall some one of the Greeks say, The man is again an 
Argive, and dwells in the possessions of his fathers, by the 
blessing of Pallas and Apollo, and of a third protecting 
Power, the ruler of all things, who, regarding the fate of my 
father, has preserved me, seeing that these Furies assert 
the rights of my mother. But I now depart home, having 
pledged my oath to this country and to your people, that, 
through all the long lapse of succeeding time 2 , no Chief who 
rules my land shall march hither, and lead against these 
towers his martial spears: for we, though then in the 
tomb, shall cause those who transgress my present oaths to 
repent of their undertaking, involving them in inextricable 
calamities, and sending dismay and evil omens to attend 
their paths 3 . But we will shew favour to those who sup- 
port and ever honour this city of Pallas with their alliance 
in war. And now may both you, O Goddess, prosper, and 
the people who possess your city ! and may you have 
inevitable overthrow for your enemies, and safety and 
triumph from your spear. 

chorus. — You have trampled, O more youthful Gods ! on 
ancient laws, and have rescued a victim from my hands. 
But I, though dishonoured and wretched, shall cherish a 
deep resentment, and, in requital of my wrongs, shall shed 

(1) "Si defuerit suffragium, h.e. non faverit. Deinde, Unum stiff ragium 
vel dejicit vel erigit." — Scholefield. 

(2) "Deinceps in omne tern-pus futurum quamvis longissimum sit" Heath. 

(3) " Cave referas hsec, cum Stanleio, ad Xerxem, quae revera ad 
sanctitatem foederis Argivos inter et Athenienses, de quo supra jam 
diximus, unice spectant." — Butler. 



238 ^SCHYLUS. 

on this land a distillation from my heart, that will blast the 
produce of the soil. For that venom shall descend on the 
plain, O Justice ! with fatal influence to the fruits of the 
earth and the offspring of man, and shall leave in the 
country the poison spots that are deadly to mortals. Shall 
I groan ? What shall I do ? What will become of me ? I 
have met with sufferings that shall, in turn, be intolerable 
to this people 1 ; for, O unhappy daughters of Night ! great 
are our wrongs, and deep our grief of shame. 

minerva. — If you take my advice, you will bear your lot 
without such heavy lamentation: for you have not been 
conquered ; since the cause was decided truly by equal votes, 
and did not detract from your honours. But the suppliant 
was acquitted, because clear evidences were present from 
Jove, and because the God who gave the oracle came him- 
self to bear witness, that it was not just that Orestes should 
suffer hurt for these deeds. Do not, therefore, launch the 
terrors of your wrath on this land, nor indulge your resent- 
ment, nor cause sterility by shedding the poison of demons 
and the baleful influences that destroy the seed. For I 
promise you, with solemn truth, that, seated on the thrones 
of splendid shrines, you shall possess temples and sanctua- 
ries in a righteous land, and be worshipped by these 
citizens. 

chorus. — You have trampled, O more youthful Gods ! 
on ancient laws, and have rescued a victim from my hands. 
But I, though dishonoured and wretched, shall cherish a 
deep resentment, and, in requital of my wrongs, shall shed 
on this land a distillation from my heart, that will blast 
the produce of the soil. For that venom shall descend on 
the plain, O Justice ! with fatal influence to the fruits of 
the earth and the offspring of man, and shall leave in the 
country the poison-spots that are deadly to mortals. Shall 
I groan ? What shall I do ? What will become of me ? 

( 1 ) "Si vera sit lectio vulgata, sensua est, Sva-oio-Ta eiraQov. at probe 
curabo ne mibi soli, sed et civibus etiam hsec sint intolerabilia. Intole- 
randa pertuli, sed ea qure cives cum magno suo detrimento intoleranda es?e 
sentient.'*— Butler. 



THE FURIES. 239 

I have met with sufferings that shall, in turn, be intolerable 
to this people ; for, O unhappy daughters of Night ! great 
are our wrongs, and deep our grief of shame. 

minerva. — You have not been dishonoured, O Goddesses ; 
and do not, in the violence of your wrath, send a blight on 
the land of mortals. I also have reliance on Jove : and why 
need I assert it ? for I alone of Deities know the keys of the 
abodes in which the thunder lies sealed. But here there 
is no need of its terrors ; for do you, willingly complying 
with my request, cease to vent against this land the impre- 
cations of a rash tongue, causing every thing to meet with 
misfortune. Lull to sleep the bitter fury of the dark 
tempest of your soul; since you shall be honoured with 
worship, and dwell with me in these seats; and, enjoying 
for ever the first-fruits of these wide realms, and the sacri- 
fices for the birth of children and rights of marriage, you 
will hereafter praise my counsel. 

chorus. — That I should suffer these wrongs — that I, a 
Goddess of ancient wisdom, should dwell in this land — is, 
alas ! a dishonourable pollution. I breathe rage and utmost 
fury. Alas ! alas ! what pain pierces my side ? Listen to 
my indignant complaint, O Mother Night ! for the evil 
artifices of the Gods have ignominiously deprived me of 
my public honours. 

minerva. — I will bear with your anger ; for you are older 
and also much wiser than I am, though Jupiter has given 
to me no mean share of wisdom. But if you seek the 
country of another people, you will feel a longing regret 
for this land. I warn you of this ; for time, as it advances, 
shall bring fuller honour to these citizens ; and you shall 
have a seat beside the abodes of Erectheus, honoured by men 
and by the bands of women, such as you could never obtain 
from other mortals. But do you neither cast in these my 
favoured regions, incentives to blood, the bane of youthful 
breasts, that madden them with a fury not inspired by 
wine 1 ; nor, as if you had extracted the heart of cocks, 

(l) Schiitz need not have condemned the reading of aoivois, nor Pauvv 
and Abresch have gone so far astray in interpreting its meaning. The 

phrase 



240 AESCHYLUS. 

implant in my citizens civil strife and rage against each 
other. Let the war be foreign, and let it often be waged ', 
if it be one in which there shall^ flourish the strong desire 
of glory : but I forbid the combat of the domestic bird. It 
is permitted you to make such a choice from my gifts, and, 
conferring and receiving benefits, to share with due honours 
this country, which is most dear to Gods. 

chorus. — That I should suffer these wrongs — that I, a 
Goddess of ancient wisdom, should dwell in this land — is, 
alas ! a dishonourable pollution. I breathe rage and utmost 
fury. Alas ! alas ! what pain pierces my side ? Listen to 
my indignant complaint, O Mother Night! for the evil 
artifices of the Gods have ignominiously deprived me of 
my public honours. 

minerva. — I will not cease to suggest good counsels to 
you; so that you may never have it to say that you, an 
ancient Goddess, were driven ignominiously and inhospita- 
bly from this plain, by my younger power, and by the 
mortals who inhabit my city. But if the power of per- 
suasion is revered by you, and my words can soothe and 
mitigate your wrath 2 , you will remain : and yet, if you 
do not choose to remain, you could not with justice send 
wrath and vengeance on this city, or ruin on its people : 
for it is in your power to be for ever justly honoured in 
this happy land. 

phrase is without mystery ; and Wellauer, who is astonished at the stu- 
pidity of his predecessors, has simply and satisfactorily explained the force 
of the expression : " Furore, non ex vino nato, sed a Furiis injecto." 

(1) " Bellum sit peregrinum, idque non cegre, sed abundc, adveniens. 
Quantumcunque sit, nihil moror, dummodo non sit domes ticum."— Schole- 
field. "Sensus est: Bella gerenda externa sint, non tamen longd a 
finibus absint, ne cives procul patria moriantur aut magis incommodis vexen- 
tur" — Schwenck. K. O. Miiller has adopted the reading ov Soiuoiq irapcov 
which had previously been sanctioned by the authority of Dr. Butler. 

(2) " Frustra in hoc loco explicando laborarunt W. DD. nemo enim 
satis expeditam constructionem adhuc proposuit. Locus erit forte satis 
expeditus, modo ad peiXiyna nal OeXxTtjptov repetas eo-n, addito post y\oj<r- 
atis re vel 5e. Ut sit ordo, a\\' si pev eari <roi <re/3a? Tre<0ou5, y\u»ra-T}^ r 
eyur/? {e<rri jueiXiy/ua Kal QekKrfjpiov, si tibi quidem vlla est Suadce reverent id, 
mrcc vero lingua ulla suadc/uli or mulccnJi vis."— Brn eu. 



THE FURIES. 241 

chorus. — O royal Minerva! what seat do you say that I 
shall possess ? 

minerva. — One that is secure from all calamity : and I 
pray you to accept it ! 

chorus. — In truth, I accept it \ But what honour awaits 
me? 

minerva. — That no house shall nourish without your 
favour. 

chorus. — Will you bring it to pass, that I shall have so 
great power ? 

minerva. — Yes ; for we will prosper the fortunes of him 
who worships you, 

chorus. — And will you warrant your promises to me for 
all time? 

minerva. — I will ; for it is not permitted to me to pro- 
mise what I will not perform. 

chorus. — You have almost soothed me : and I relent 
from my wrath. 

minerva. — You shall therefore, dwelling in this land, 
obtain friends. 

chorus. — What blessings, then, do you bid me invoke 
for this land ? 

minerva. — Such as conduce to glorious victory, whether 
proceeding from the land, or the waters of the sea, or the 
sky. And pray, that the breath of genial gales may visit 
this country; that the plenteous produce of the soil and 
the flocks never fail to enrich the people ; and that there 
be security to the offspring of man. But may you be 
inclined to root out the impious ! for I only love, as a 
gardener cherishes his plants, to preserve from calamity 
the race of the just. Such things are to be your care: 

(l) "As this foul sisterhood was driven from the society of the Gods, 
admitted to no feast, nor suffered to abide in any temple, this offer of 
Minerva was very advantageous to them, and did them the greatest 
honour ; and, as it was urged with the gentlest and most insinuating 
courtesy, it is no wonder that they suffered themselves to be prevailed 
upon to accept it. From their consent to abide here as friends, their 
harsh name of Erinnyes was changed to En menides."— Potter. 

R 



242 /ESCHYLUS. 

and I, for my part, will never endure that this victorious 
city should cease to be honoured among mortals for the 
illustrious combats of Mars. 

chorus. — I will accept a share in the seats of Pallas ; nor 
will I reject a city which even almighty Jove and Mars 
regard as the defence of the Gods, the pride of the Dei- 
ties of Greece, and the guardian of their altars. For that 
city I pour my prayers — of which I foretell the benign ful- 
filment ! — that the bright ray of the sun ever produce from 
the earth the plenteous blessings that give enjoyment to life. 

minerva. — I willingly confer these benefits on this peo- 
ple, having persuaded these mighty and reluctant Deities 
to dwell in the land: for it is their office to administer 
every thing that befalls man; and he who incurs their 
wrath knows not whence the calamities of life arise : for 
the sins of his ancestors lead him into the power of the 
Furies, and silent destruction lays low with hostile wrath 
even the boasting and the proud. 

chorus. — May no poisoned gale blow, to blight the trees ! 
— I tell my favours 2 : and may no fierce heat, that withers 
the germs 3 of plants, be permitted to pass the limits of these 
regions ! May no black disease invade and blast the fruits ! 
May the earth enrich, at the appointed time, the teeming 
flocks with double increase ! and may the race that enjoys 
the treasures of this land honour the bounteous gift of the 
Gods! 

minerva. — Do you hear, O guardians of the city ! what 
she promises to perform? For the awful Erinnys is of 
mighty power, both among the Immortals and those be- 
neath the earth; and the Fatal Sisters clearly and fully 

(1) " Cuiqice aded et nos ipsce precamur, benevole simul vaticinates (preces 
nostras ratas fore), ut jucundum solis jubar omnium rerum vita alendas 
utilium affluentum copiam e terra educate — Schutz. 

(2) Mea causa, in meam gratiam." — Pauw. " Beneficium mcum quod 
.sum collatura commemoro.^ — Heath. 

(3) "Aliud est 6fjfxaro<rTept]<; apud Euripidem in Phoeniss. v. 331. 
nempe,, oculv; prwatus, ccccus. Est vero o/mfxa hie gemma, germen in 
plantis."— Stanley. 



THE FURIES. 243 

direct the destinies of men, sending to some the songs of 
joy, and to others a life that is darkened with tears. 

chorus. — But I forbid the untimely casualties that de- 
stroy men: and do ye grant a wedded life to lovely and 
youthful maids, ye Goddesses who rule supreme, sisters of 
the Fates by the same mother ; who direct, by your divine 
power, the justice of laws ; whose empire is acknowledged 
in every house ; who are ever terrible in your righteous 
visitations ; and who are, in all things, the most honoured 
of the Deities. 

minerva. — I rejoice that these Goddesses are willing to 
grant such favours to this land; and I bless the eyes of 
Persuasion, because she has given influence to my lips and 
tongue to soften their harsh refusal. But Jupiter, the God 
of the Forum, hath prevailed ; and our rivalry of conferring 
benefits on this land shall continue for ever *. 

chorus. — I pray that sedition, insatiate of ills, may never 
rage in this city ; nor that the dust, having drunk the black 
blood of the citizens, awake the wrath of vengeance, and 
cause the calamities of mutual slaughters in the city 2 . 
But may the people rather bestow joys on each other, with 
zeal for the common good ; and may they hate with the 
same mind the common enemy : for such sentiments are 
the remedy of many evils among mortals. 

minerva. — Do you, then, with wiser thoughts, discover 
the way to prayers of good ? I foresee, that, from these 
dread forms, great gain shall yet accrue to these citizens : 
for if ye 3 shall ever greatly honour these friendly Powers 
with friendly worship, ye shall all conduct with glory the 
affairs of this land and of this righteous city. 

chorus. — Farewell ! farewell in the prosperity of wealth ! 

(1) " ^Ept? fj/uerepa ayaOoov, contentio nostra bonorum, h.e. certamen utrum 
plus boni Minerva an Eumenides civitati conferant, in aeternum valebit. 
Semper certabimus utrum plus ego an vos urbi benefaciamus." — Butler. 

(2) " 'ApiraXio-ai, avidd arripiat : locum sic concipio : Neque pulvis san- 
guine civium saturatus accipiat (corporibus nempe moribundis stratus) ultiones 
per furorem mutuum facias ; cades scil. propter cades, ut fit in bellis civi- 
libus alio alium ulciscente." — Wakefield. 

(3) The Athenians. 

R 2 



244 jESCHYLUS. 

farewell, O people of this city ! who sit near Jove, and, 
being dear to the dear Virgin, learn to be wise in time : 
for the Father looks with favour on those who are pro- 
tected by the wings of Pallas. 

minerva. — Farewell to you too ! But it first behoves me 
to go and point out your abodes. Proceed towards the 
sacred light, with these guides ; and, departing beneath the 
earth 1 , as these hallowed victims fall in honour of you, 
bind in chains below that which is baneful to this country, 
and send that which is advantageous to the city, to crown 
its victories. But do you shew the way, O citizens, children 
of Cranaiis, to these Goddesses, that seek to dwell among 
you ; and may there be a good remembrance of good to 
this people ! 

chorus. — Farewell, farewell, I again repeat, to all who 
dwell within these walls, both Gods and mortals, the inha- 
bitants of the city of Pallas ! If you rightly honour my 
residence in your land, you shall never have to complain 
of the calamities of life. 

minerva. — I approve of the words of these prayers ; and 
I will send the light of blazing torches into the regions be- 
neath the earth, together with the attendants who piously 
guard my image. For let the flower of all the land of 
Theseus come forth, a glorious band of youths and maids, 
and a train of aged matrons clothed in robes of purple 
dye. Pay honour to these Powers ; and let the blaze of 
flame burst forth ; that these Sisters, who seek our land, 
may, for the future, be famed for their benevolence, and 
bestow prosperity on mortals. 

ATTENDANTS. 

O mighty virgin daughters of Night! depart to your 
abodes with friendly honours, and the favouring wishes of 
this train. Give utterance to words of propitious omen ; 
and descend to the ancient abysses of earth, revered with 
honours and sacrifices, and happy in your fortune. Pour 

(1) " In fano Eumenidibus dicato erat cella subterranea, ubi nocturna iis 
sacrificia faciebant. In banc igitur cellam deducuntur, indcque finguntur 
ad Tartarum descendere." — Schi'tz. 



THE FURIES. 245 

forth your prayers for good, with one voice. Propitious 
and benevolent to this land, come hither, ye hallowed 
Powers, who delight in the blazing torch ; and now, as ye 
advance on your way, break forth in acclaim to our strains. 
Libations, shining in the light of the torch, shall ever flow 
in your temple. Thus have all-seeing Jove and Fate de- 
scended together, to bless the citizens of Pallas. And now 
break forth in acclaim to our strains. 



THE SUPPLICANTS. 



PERSONS OF THE DRAMA. 



CHORUS OF THE DAUGHTERS OF DANAUS. 

DANAUS. 

KING OF THE ARGIVES. 

HERALD. 



THE SUPPLICANTS. 



CHORUS. 

May Jove, the God of the suppliant, regard with favour 
our naval array, that sailed from the shallow streams at the 
mouths of the Nile ! We have departed in exile from the 
divine land that borders on Syria; not being condemned 
for the crime of blood by any public vote of the State, but 
abhorring the impious and incestuous nuptials of the sons 
of iEgyptus, from whose embraces we have fled K Our 
father Danaus, who is the author of our counsels, and the 
leader of our band, as he revolved these circumstances, de- 
cided that it was the most honourable resource in our ca- 
lamities to fly with unintermitted speed across the billows 
of the sea, and to direct our course to the land of Argos ; 
whence our race boasts that it derived its origin from the 
touch of the heifer 2 , that was maddened by the gadfly, 
and from the breath of Jove. To what land, then, more 
friendly than this can we repair with these weapons of the 
suppliant, the boughs that are wreathed with wool ? Ye 
Powers, to whom this city, this land, and these fair streams 3 
are consecrated ! ye Gods supreme in heaven ! and ye dread 

( 1 ) " yapos <f>v1~avoop est connubium cum viris, quosfugimus." — Wellauer. 

(2) Io, after having been restored to her senses and natural shape by 
the touch of Jupiter, brought forth Epaphus, whose son Belus was the 
father of Danaus and iEgyptus. 

(3) " The scene is near the shore, in an open grove, close to the altar 
and images of the Gods presiding over the sacred games ; with a view of 
the sea and the ships of iEgyptus on one side, and of the towers of Argos 
on the other ; with hills, and woods, and vales, a river flowing between 
them ; altogether, with the persons of the drama, forming a picture that 
would have well employed the united pencils of Poussin and Claude 
Lorraine." — Potter. 



250 .ESCHYLUS. 

Avengers, whose dominion is in the seats beneath the earth ! 
and Jove, our protector, the third, the guardian of the house 
of righteous men ! receive with the spirit of benevolence, 
in this land, the female train who implore your favours ! 
But drive to the deep, in their hurrying bark, the insolent 
crew, the band of males that sprung from ^Egyptus, before 
they place their steps on this marshy soil; and there, having 
encountered the fury of the sea, let them perish by the 
whirlwind of the drifting storm, by the thunder and light- 
ning, and the tempest of showery winds, before they ascend 
our unwilling couches, from which justice excludes them, 
and force to their union 1 this kindred train! But now 
will we invoke to our aid the divine heifer 2 from beyond 
the sea, and the offspring of our transformed ancestress 
that browsed on flowers, whose birth was due to the touch 
and breath of Jove : for the fated time confirmed in just 
accordance the omen of the name, and brought forth Epa- 
phus ; whom adding to my invocation, I will now, in the 
fertile regions where his mother pastured of old, make 
mention of her former toils ; and I will exhibit clear proofs 
of our hereditary claims, which, being unexpected, will, I 
know, appear improbable : but each will at length acknow- 
ledge the truth of my words. If any augur 3 chance to be 
near in this land, he will think, as he listens to our mourn- 
ful wail, that he hears the voice of the wretched wife of 
the crafty Tereus 4 , and of the nightingale pursued by the 
hawk; who, driven from her native scenes and rivers, 

(1) " TEQerepil-dfjievov ad iapov refertur. Orant autem virgines ne a 
viris abripiantur, et in eorum potestatera veniant, ac tanquam propria} ab 
ipsis usurpentur : id enim est o-Qerepiteo-Oai."— Stanley. 

(2) Both Io and her son are invoked; and not Epaphus alone, as is 
contended by Schiitz. 

(3) " Nimirum quia augures avium linguas callere putabantur, facilins 
quam alii Danai'dum querelas cum lugubri Philomel® cantu comparare 
poterant." — Schutz. 

(4) " Trjpetas fxtjnBo^ id est, Tereos ; ut fitt] 'EpaxXeit], Hercules. Ita 
autem dicitur propter nefandum illud consilium, quod ad stuprandam 
Philomelam et ad occultandum scelus concepit." — Stanley. 



THE SUPPLICANTS. 251 

laments with new sorrow for her banished haunts 1 , and 
interweaves in the strain the fate of her son, how cruelly- 
he perished by her own hand, the victim of a mother s un- 
relenting wrath. Thus I, too, devoted to grief, tear, after 
the Ionic custom, my soft cheek, that caught its summer 
tint by the Nile, and my heart, that before was a stranger 
to tears ; and I cull the blossoms of sorrow in the fear that 
I feel of my friends 2 , if there be any of them that are in- 
terested in my flight from the sable shores of Egypt. But, 
O ye Gods of our race ! hear our prayers, and regard 
aright the justice of our cause ! for, either by refusing to 
grant completion to their impious wishes, or by openly 
shewing your abhorrence of their insolence, you would 
prove just with respect to this wedlock. The altar, even 
to those who fly when discomfited in war, affords a defence 
against calamity, in the reverence paid to its Divinities 3 . 
Would that the God in certain truth would arrange our 
fortunes happily ! The purpose of Jove is not within the 
easy grasp of human thought ; but it bursts forth from the 
gloom that envelopes it, with dark misfortunes to the 
various tribes of men. The event that hath received its 
final sanction by the nod of Jove falls securely, and is not 
overcome and laid prostrate on the ground ; for the ways 
of his thoughts extend through gloom and shade, impene- 
trable to mortal view ; and he dashes from their towering 
hopes the abandoned race of men, without arming against 
them the force of the Gods, which ever effects its purpose 
without toil 4 . His spirit, though its dwelling be on high in 
the pure seats of heaven, can thence fully consummate its 

(1) This is the only part of the simile that is exactly appropriate to the 
fate of the Chorus. 

(2) Heath and Butler suppose that the Argives are denoted by this 
expression ; but Schiitz applies it to the kindred of the Chorus, the sons of 
iEgyptus. 

(3) " Est etiam bello ajfiictis fugitives altare, deorum veneratio, ubi Dii 
coluntur, vel ob Deorum reverentiam, noxce propugnaculum." — Butler. 

(4) " Neque verb exarmat vim Deorum, qua sine labore operator." — 

SCHOLEFIELD. 



252 jESCHYLUS. 

every fiat. Let him regard, then, the insolence of mortals, 
to what deeds the father ' animates his offspring on account 
of our nuptials, in the perverted counsels of his mind, being 
actuated in his thoughts by the inevitable impulses of 
madness, and too late learning his loss in our flight, that 
has deceived his hopes 2 . I tell with lamentation these 
wretched sufferings, that are fraught with bitter wailing, 
with heavy woe and falling tears, alas ! alas ! accordant with 
the funeral strain. Ere life hath departed, I honour my 
fate with the dirge of the dead. I implore the favour of the 
Apian land ; and, though a stranger, you 3 will easily under- 
stand my voice 4 . But I often rend 5 my robes of fine linen, 
and my Sidonian veil. To the Gods shall their rights be 
justly paid, if no evil result from these attempts of our 
enemies, and death be absent. Alas ! and alas ! no close of 
these toils can be discerned. Whither will this billow bear 
us ? I implore the favour of the Apian land ; and, though 
a stranger, you will easily understand my voice. But I often 
rend my robes of fine linen, and my Sidonian veil. The oar 
indeed, and the walls fastened with flax, that make the vessel 
proof against the waves, have wafted me hither with gentle 
breezes over the unruffled sea : nor do I blame this omen 
of our fortunes ; but may the all-seeing Father, in time, give 
them as propitious a close, so that we, who derive our high 
origin from an illustrious mother, may, unwedded and un- 
violated, escape the embraces of these men ! May the chaste 
Daughter of Jove willingly regard me, her willing votary ; 
bearing in her awful countenance the promise of security, 

(1) " Ad quce scelera inaudita adigit liberos suos" — Casaubon. " Per 
irvdprjv igitur vir Magnus videtur intellexisse iEgyptum, per to 6a\o<; 
liberos ejus." — Butler. 

(2) "Serd tandem noxam sibi fuga nostra factam, fraude nostra cognita, 
intelligens. — Schutz. Heath has translated it better, in fewer words : 
" Damnum sunm ex frustratione demum deprehendens." 

(3) The Apian land. 

(4) This reasoning of the Cliorus is very inconclusive : but none of the 
various readings that have been proposed do much to mend the sense. 

(5) " 'E/jLircrveiv <-uv XaxiSi, nihil aliud est quam discerpere, dilaceran\ 
impetum in vestes faccre lacerando."— ScBUTZ. 



THE SUPPLICANTS. 253 

and displaying in all her counsels her might ! May she, a 
virgin, prove in my persecutions the protector of a virgins 
safety; so that we, who derive our high origin from an 
illustrious mother, may, unwedded and unviolated, escape 
the embraces of these men i If she refuse her aid, we, a 
dark race, whose hues are from the sun, having perished by 
the suspended noose, will descend with our suppliant boughs, 
rejected by the Olympian Gods, to the God beneath the 
earth, the Jove of the dead \ whose halls are thronged with 
many a guest. O Jove ! O wrath of the Gods, that perse- 
cutes Io ! I know that the vengeance of the Wife of Jove 
hath baffled the mercy of his heavenly will ; for this tem- 
pest hath arisen from her unrelenting spirit. And then 
will Jove have to bear the words of reproach, if he deny 
honour to the son of the heifer, whom he himself formerly 
begot, and if, in our supplication, he avert his eye. But 
may he propitiously listen to our prayer in heaven ! O 
Jove ! O wrath of the Gods, that persecutes Io ! I know 
that the vengeance of the Wife of Jove hath baffled the 
mercy of his heavenly will ; for this tempest hath arisen 
from her unrelenting spirit. 

DANAUS. 

My children, it is necessary to be prudent ; and ye have 
come with your aged father, a prudent and faithful guide 
of your naval enterprise. And now, as to your conduct 
on land, I advise you to be careful in exercising foresight, 
and to inscribe my words on your minds. I see dust in 
the air, the silent messenger of an advancing army : the 
naves of the rapid wheels give audible note of their ap- 
proach: and now I can behold a numerous band, that 
bear the shield and wield the lance, with horses and with 
curved chariots. Perhaps the ruler of this land comes to 
observe us, having heard of our arrival from messengers. 
But, whether he advance against this train without medi- 
tating injury, or whether he be filled with savage wrath, it 

( l) " Sin minus, fusca, solis radiis icta gens, ad Jovem inferorum ibimus." — 
Wellauer. This Editor has greatly improved the text by his judicious 
emendations in this passage. 



254 ^ISCHYLUS. 

is best on every account, ye damsels, to take our seats on 
this sacred mound of the Gods who preside over the 
Games l . The altar is stronger than a tower, and forms 
an impenetrable shield of defence. Go then, as quickly as 
possible, and, taking reverently in your suppliant hands the 
suppliant boughs of the snowy wreath, the ensigns of Jove, 
the God of mercy, reply to the strangers with respectful, 
sad, and becoming speech, as befits those who have come 
to a foreign land ; and clearly relate your flight, which was 
not compelled by any crime of blood. Take especial care 
that no boldness attend your words, and that no unseemly 
look be cast from your modest brows and downcast eyes. 
And be not the first to speak, nor be tedious in your dis- 
course; for the people in this region are quick to take 
offence : but remember to be submissive. You are a 
destitute exiled stranger; and it becomes not those who 
are in humble condition to be haughty in their words. 

chorus. — You have spoken, O father, wisely to the wise ; 
and I shall study to remember the prudent commands 
which you have given. But may Jove, the God of our 
race, regard our cause ! 

dan. — Do not now delay ; but let there be vigour in the 
execution of your design. 

chorus. — I would that already I had my seat beside 
you 2 ! 

dan. — O Jove, pity us, before we are destroyed by our 
sufferings ! 

chorus. — May he, in truth, regard us with a propitious 
eye ; for if it be his will, our fortunes will have a prospe- 
rous issue. 

dan. — And now invoke this bird of Jove 3 . 

(1) "These Gods were, Jupiter, as presiding over the Olympic Games ; 
Neptune, as over the Isthmian ; Apollo, as institutor of the Pythian ; and 
Mercury, who taught the graceful exercises of the Pakrstra. " — Potter. 

(2) " Tantum abest, ut segniter again, ut vellcm jam prope assidcrc tihi. 
illo nempc in irayco aycovicov deoovS' — Abresch. 

(3) Apollo is thus absurdly denominated, because the cock announces the 
rising of the sun. 



THE SUPPLICANTS. 255 

chorus. — We invoke to our aid the rays of the Sun, and 
the chaste Apollo, a God who was exiled from heaven 1 . 
Having experienced an exile's lot, he might sympathize 
with the like hardships of mortals. 

dan. — May he sympathize with us, and stand by our 
side, a willing ally ! 

chorus. — Shall I still invoke any other of these Deities ? 

dan. — I behold this trident, ensign of a God. 

chorus. — He hath conducted us hither in safety; and 
may he receive us with safety in this land ! 

dan. — This other is Mercury, according to the rites of 
the Greeks 2 . 

chorus. — Let him now be the herald of good tidings to 
the free ! 

dan. — Next, address with reverence all the sovereign 
Powers that share these common altars ; and take your 
seats within their sacred precincts, like a flock of doves 
that have been scared by hawks of kindred plumage, ene- 
mies of the same blood who would pollute the race. How 
can a bird that makes a bird its prey be pure ? And how 
can he that forces to marriage an unwilling bride, from an 
unwilling father, be free from pollution ? Not even in the 
realms of death should he who was guilty of such a deed 
escape the punishment of presumptuous crime; for in 
Hades, it is said, there reigns another Jove, who visits, 
with their final retribution, the transgressions of the dead. 
Consider your danger ; and remove to this place, in order 
that the present circumstances may turn out prosperously 
to your wishes. 



(1) Jupiter having slain iEsculapius with his thunderbolt, because he 
restored Hippolytus to life, Apollo, the father of iEsculapius, took the fate 
of his son very much to heart, and shewed his resentment by destroying the 
Cyclops who had manufactured the thunder. He was banished for this 
offence from heaven, and tended, in his exile, the flocks of Admetus. 

(2) ■ Danaus does well to explain this image to his daughters ; for in 
the iEgyptain rites, Mercury was depicted with his caduceus and talaria 
indeed, but with the head of a dog, as the Latrator Anubis."— Potter. 



256 iESCHYLUS. 

KING OF THE ARGIVES. 

Of what country is this band that we address — this train 
that gives no token of Greece, luxuriously decked in the 
barbaric robe, that wraps them with many a fold ? for this 
female attire is not like that of Argos, or any Grecian 
realm. But it is astonishing, how you have boldly dared 
to come to this country, without being announced by 
heralds, introduced by a public host, or conducted by 
guides. Boughs, indeed, have been laid by you, after the 
custom of suppliants, at the altars of the Gods who pre- 
side over the Games. That you have come therefore as 
suppliants, is the only fact that the Grecian land can gain 
by conjecture; though there are many other things of 
which we might guess, if you were not present, and had a 
voice to disclose the truth. 

chorus. — You have spoken with truth, respecting our 
costume. But, whether do I address you as one of the 
people, or as a guardian of the temple and bearer of the 
sacred wand, or as the Ruler of the State ? 

king. — As far as these matters are concerned 1 , I pray 
you to speak and to make answer to my questions, without 
fear. I am Pelasgus, son of the earth-born Palaecthon, the 
ruler of this country ; and the race of the Pelasgians, who 
derive their appropriate name from me their sovereign, 
cultivate these fields. I hold the supreme power over all 
the regions through which the Argus flows, and Strymon 
towards the setting sun ; and my empire is bounded by 
this land of the Perrhaebians, and by the tracts beyond 
Pindus, near the Paeonians, and by the mountains of 
Dodona. On the other side, the boundary of the watery 
sea confines its extent ; but of all within these limits I am 
master. But this plain of the Apian land 2 of old received 
its name in honour of a man who excelled in the healing 
art: for Apis, the son of Apollo, endowed with divine 

(1) "ttjoo? ravr apeiftov non est, ad hcec responde, sed propter hccc, quod 
ad Iubc altinet, fidenter respondeas.'" — Wella.uer. 

(2) The Peloponnesus was called iEgialea, before it derived its new 
name from Apis. 



THE SUPPLICANTS. 257 

knowledge of medicine, having crossed from Naupactus, 
cleared this land of the deadly monsters which Earth, 
stained by the pollutions of ancient slaughter, had sent 
forth, with rage to destroy, the accursed brood of a dragon 
race. Apis, having successfully devised effective remedies 
that released the Argive land from these pests, obtained, 
as a reward, that his memory should be held sacred in 
our prayers. Having now heard from me these evidences 
of our history, you may proclaim, in return, your lineage, 
and proceed with your tale. But remember, that this city 
does not love a long narration \ 

chorus. — Our speech shall be short, and clear. We 
boast that we are Argives by descent, the offspring of the 
heifer, glorious in her race : and I will make all this ap- 
pear true, by my words. 

king. — The tale which you tell, O strangers, sounds 
incredible to my ears, that this your race is derived from 
Argos ; for you more resemble the women of Libya 2 , and 
in no respect the natives of this land. The Nile, too, might 
nourish such an offspring ; and such in Cyprus is the image 
that is commonly impressed on female forms by male 
artists 3 : and I have heard 4 that the pastoral Indians, who 
ride on camels that bear the load like horses 5 , dwell in a 

(1) "Ut Lacones, sic Argivi breviloquentiam colebant. Pind. Isthm. 
VI. 87. Tcov 'Apyetatv rpoirou, eiprjo-erai ttov k ev ppaxio-roiq." — Abresch. 

(2) " The ladies of Ancient Greece, like the fair females that grace our 
happy country, were remarkable for that soft and delicate composition of 
colour, which consists of a fine red, beautifully intermixed and incorporated 
with white : when Pelasgus, therefore, observed the glowing tints of these 
dames, he pronounces them not of Argive race, but readily derives them 
from some warmer clime. Mr. Addison, in his Cato, has expressed the 
same idea, in these charming lines : 

" The glowing dames of Zama's royal court 
Have faces flush'd with more exalted charms : 
The sun, that rolls his chariot o'er their heads, 
Works up more fire and colour in their cheeks." — Potter. 

(3) Such are the daughters of Cyprian parents. 

(4) " Quum hoc se audiisse dicit rex, manifesto ob id ipsum dicit, quod 
similitudinem inesse putat." — Wellauer. 

(5) " Vagam exercere pastorum vitanz cum camelis more equina clitellax 
vehcntibm." — Scholefield. 

S 



358 iESCHYLUS. 

land that borders on the ^Ethiopians. If you had been 
armed with the bow, I should certainly have conjectured 
that you were the virgin Amazons, who feed on the flesh 
of animals : but when you have explained, I shall better 
know how your race and lineage have flowed from Argos, 

chorus. — They say that Io was formerly guardian of 
the temple of Juno in this Argive land ; whom, as rumour 
chiefly prevails — ***#**. 

king. — Is there not also a legend, that Jupiter embrace* i 
a mortal ? 

chorus. — And held this wanton intercourse, without the 
knowledge of Juno. 

king. — How, then, did the contention of these Powers 
end ° 

chorus.— The Argive Goddess transformed the woman 
to a heifer. 

king. — Did Jupiter, then, approach the horned heifer ? 

chorus. — They say that he did, having assumed the 
form of a wanton bull. 

king. — How, in truth, did the mighty wife of Jove next 
proceed ? 

chorus. — She placed over the heifer a keeper, who 
watched her with many eyes 2 . 

king. — Who was this herdsman with many eyes, of 
whom you speak ? 

chorus. — Argus, the son of Earth, whom Mercury slew, 

king. — What else did she next devise against the ill 
fated heifer? 

chorus. — The gadfly, the restless pest of the herd : they 
who dwell by the Nile call it the cestrum 3 . 

king. — Did it, then, chase her from her country, in a 
lengthened flight ? 

chorus. — You have spoken all these words in accordance 
with mine. 

(1) Jupiter, and Juno. 

(2) " Argum fama refert centeno lumine cinctum 

Corporis excubiis unam servasse juvencam." Claudia h. 

(3) Virgil, on the contrary, tells us that this is the Greek name : 

" Cui nomen asilo 

Romanum est, oestrum Graii vertere vocantes." Gcorg. III. I 74. 



THE SUPPLICANTS. 259 

kino. — And did she come to Canopus and to Memphis ? 

chorus. — Yes ; and Jupiter, touching her with his hand, 
implanted an offspring. 

KING . — Who, then, boasts to be this calf of the heifer 
that sprung from Jupiter ? 

chorus. — Epaphus ; who justly derived his name from the 
method by which his mother was freed from her sorrows. 

king. — *******. 

chorus. — Libya; who enjoyed the greatest portion of 
this land. 

king. — What other offspring, derived from this source, 
have you yet to tell ? 

chorus. — Belus ; who begat two sons ; the father of this 
my father. 

king. — Declare to me now the name of this sage f ? 

chorus. — Danaus : and his brother is the father of fifty 
sons. 

king. — Make known to me also his name, with willing 
information. 

chorus. — ^Egyptus; but, having learned my ancient 
lineage, may you so act, as to restore to prosperity this 
Argive band ! 

king. — You appear, indeed, to me to have derived of old 
your common origin from this land. But how have you 
dared to forsake your paternal abodes? What chance 
constrained you ? 

chorus. — King of the Pelasgians, the misfortunes of 
men are various ; and you can nowhere behold calamity 
advancing on the same wing : for who could have thought 
that, in this unexpected flight, a tribe, whose lineage was 

(l) " Quasi Aavao?, a Bar/vat, scire." — Stanley. Schiitz follows this 

fanciful interpretation ; but Pauw has justly exposed the absurdity of making 
Pelasgus pun upon a name which he had never heard. Butler is probably 
right in the following conjectures: "Credo duos versus deesse, quorum 
in primo rex quaesierat, quisnam esset virginum pater, in altero respon- 
derant virgines eum esse prudentem ac sapientem virum, vel tale aliquid. 
Quarum orationem rex excipit, jubendo, ut hujus sapientis viri nomen 
dicerent. Nam to Trdv<ro(j)ov TOYTO ovo/ua aliquam <ro(f)ia<; mentionem 
antecessisse aperte indicat." 

S2 



260 ^SCHYLUS. 

of old the same, should seek refuge in Argos, shuddering 
with horror of the nuptial couch ? 

king. — What do you say, that you ask for the sake of 
these Gods who preside over the Games, bearing in your 
hands the boughs wreathed with wool, that have been 
newly plucked from the tree ? 

chorus. — That I may not become a domestic slave to 
the race of yEgyptus. 

king. — Whether do you mean, on account of hatred, ot 
because such ties are forbidden ? 

chorus. — Who would seek to obtain kindred as masters " 

king, — Greater strength would thus accrue to mortals. 

chorus. — And it is easy to slight the claims of the un- 
fortunate l . 

king. — How, then, can I act with proper feeling towards 
you? 

chorus.' — By not delivering us to the sons of iEgyptus, 
when they demand us back. 

king. — You suggest what is grievous, that we should 
undertake a new war. 

chorus. — But Justice fights for those who are her allies. 

ktng. — If at least, from the beginning, she had a share 
in the transaction. 

chorus. — Reverence these altars at the stern 2 of the 
State, thus crowned with garlands. 

(1) " Et ab infelicibus quidem facilis est discessus : h.e. ipso, quod nobis 
modo dedisti, responso satis ostendisti, nihil facilius esse quam homines 
infelices, opem et auxilium petentes, excusatione aliqua sic dimittere, ut 
te suppetias iis ferendi officio exsolvas. Nempe cum Danaides iniquum 
esse se patrueles suos dominos emere pronuntiassent, rex nihil aliud respon- 
debat, quam iEgypti filiis hoc ad augendas opes conducibile esse. Id igitur 
moleste ferentes acerbe respondent: 

" kch dv<TTvxovvT(iov 7'eu/xapi;? airdWaytj. 
" Neque verb rex non assecutus est, quid his verbis innuerent puella? 
Statim enim regerit 

" 7Tw? ovu Trpck v/jias ev<re(3ii<; eyw xeXft) ; 
" quasi diceret : Satis intellexi me a vobis carpi, quod causam veslram de- 
serere, et justum vobis auxilium rccusare velle vidcar. Itaquc dieite quid 
faciendo vobis pietatem et justitiam prastare possim." — Schutz. 

(2) " Upvfwa TroAeoi hie sine dubio est Trdyo<; tc/oo? in quo coiisideh.inl 

Dana'idos 



THE SUPPLICANTS. 261 

king. — I shudder, as I look on the boughs that shade 
these seats. 

chorus. — Grievous indeed is the wrath of Jove, the God 
of the suppliant. O son of Palaecthon, king of the Pelas- 
gians, listen to my prayers with willing heart ! Behold me, 
a wandering exile, a suppliant for thy mercy ; like some 
dappled heifer which, on the lofty rocks, lows to announce 
her distress to the herdsman, from whom she expects relief. 

king. — I behold beneath the shade of fresh boughs this 
new assemblage at the altars of the Gods who preside over 
the Games. But may this business of the strangers who 
claim our kindred be unattended with evil, nor, from un- 
expected and unforeseen causes, contention arise to the 
city ! for our country does not wish for war. 

chorus. — May Themis, the daughter of Clarian 3 Jove, 
and Goddess of the suppliant, see that no evil arise from 
this flight ! But do you, though endowed with the wisdom 
of age, learn from one of later birth. If you reverence 
the suppliant ****** the 
sacred gifts that are acceptable to the Gods, when offered 
by a virtuous man. 

king. — You are not seated as suppliants at the altars 
of my house ; but if the city be polluted in common, let 
it be the common care of the people to effect a remedy. 
I could not make good to you any promise, until I 
had communicated with all the citizens concerning these 
matters. 

chorus. — You are the city, and you are the people ; 
being a ruler responsible to none, who bear the supreme 
sway over the altars and hearths of this land. By the 
sole decision of your nod, and by the unrivalled sceptre 
of your throne, you ratify every decree : beware of pol- 
lution. 

king. — May the pollution be destined to my enemies ! 

Dana'i'des : in eo Dii urbis prsesides, idebque locus editior et sacer ita 
dictus Tragico: urbis salus in ista puppe, et qui in ea stabant Dii, 
■iroAeooq irpv/jLvr/rai." — Pauw. 

(3) In the version of Stanley, " Jovis qui prices t sortibus." 



262 /ESCHYLUS. 

But I am not able to assist you, without incurring danger ; 
nor, again, is it humane to disregard these prayers. I am 
in doubt, and fear distracts my mind, to act or not to act, 
and to fix my choice. 

chorus. — Regard the Power who keeps watch on high, 
the protector of afflicted mortals, who, applying for aid to 
kindred, have not obtained their just rights. The wrath 
of Jove, the guardian of suppliants, remains till the plaint 
of the sufferer shall have been soothed. 

king. — If the sons of ^Egyptus claim a right to you, say- 
ing, that by the law of their country they are the nearest 
of kin, who would wish to oppose their demands ' ? You 
must therefore have recourse to your national laws, and 
prove that they have no authority over you. 

chorus. — May I never become subject to the power of 
men ! I resolved on a remedy against their odious nup- 
tials, in trusting my flight to the guidance of the stars. 
But now, taking Justice as your ally, decide on that which 
is holy in the eye of the Gods. 

king. — This decision may not easily be made: do not 
choose me as judge. For I have before said, that I would 
not comply with your wishes without the consent of the 
people, not even though my power were absolute : and 
never may it be in the power of the people to say, if any 
thing adverse should happen, by honouring strangers you 
have destroyed the city. 

chorus. — Jupiter, in this contention, regards both of the 
kindred parties, with favourable inclination to only one ; 
assigning, as is right, the reward of injustice to the bad, 
and that which is pious to the good. Why, when the scales 
are thus equitably balanced, should you be reluctant to do 
what is just? 

king.— There is need of deep and salutary thought; 
that, like a diver, the eye, retaining its clear glance, and 

(1) "There is great propriety in this plea; to which Pelasgus was 
naturally led by Grecian ideas, arising from the laws of that country, 
where orphan virgins had to marry their nearest of kin ; and such were 
ordered to take them to wife." — Potter. 



THE SUPPLICANTS. 263 

not overpowered by wine, may penetrate to the bottom of 
these difficulties ; so that all may fall out well, without 
detriment, in the first place to the city, and next to our- 
selves; and that neither strife approach these sacred 
pledges; nor that we, having surrendered you, who are 
thus established in the seats of the Gods, bring the deadly 
and avenging fiend as the dire inmate of our dwellings, 
who not even in Hades suffers the dead to rest. Does it 
not seem to you that we require deep thought for our 
safety ? 

chorus. — Exercise that thought ; and prove, as justice 
requires, pious in the protection of the stranger. Do not 
betray the exile, who has been driven from a distant land 
by an impious banishment ; nor behold me dragged, as a 
recovered pledge, from the altars of all these Gods, O 
thou who bearest the sovereign sway over this realm ! 
Learn how great is the insolence of these men ; and guard 
against their wrath. Refuse to see the suppliant dragged, 
in contempt of justice, from these images by the hair; nor 
suffer rude hands to invade my fillets, and robes woven 
with many threads. For know, that whatever be your 
decision, it remains for your children and house to pay to 
Mars an equal retribution 1 . Consider the justice and the 
might of these laws of Jove. 

king. — I have already considered: but my purpose is 
stranded on this difficulty : there is an absolute necessity 
that I should undertake a great war either against men or 
Gods ; and my desires have been nailed and fastened, like 
a ship ready to be launched on the sea. But the issue 
of these events will by no means be without pain. For 
when wealth has been plundered from a house, other wealth 
may be bestowed, by the blessing of Jove who protects the 
household, exceeding in value the loss, and sufficient to 
complete a copious store : and when the tongue has sent 
forth the shafts of rash speech, other words may be spoken 

(l) " ScitOffilios tuos domumque tuam manet hoc, ut similem Marti luant 
pcenam, utrumcunque decreveris. Sententia igitur eadem est, quam mox 
v. 433. rex ipse profert." — Wellauer. 



264 .ESCHYLUS. 

that will soothe the former : though, even in these cases, 
there is enough to grieve and strongly disturb the mind \ 
But when it is a question, whether kindred blood shall be 
shed, we ought to offer every sacrifice, and to slay many 
victims to many Gods, in order that we may avert such a 
calamity. I would assuredly avoid all share in this con- 
tention; for I w T ish rather to shun than seek the know- 
ledge of ills. But may all fall out happily, contrary to my 
expectation ! 

chorus. — Hear now the last of many appeals for mercy. 

king. — I listen, and you may speak: your words shall 
not escape me. 

chorus. — I have girdles 2 , and zones, that bind my robes. 

king. — Such ornaments become the female state. 

chorus. — By means of these, therefore, know a goodly 
contrivance 

king. — Speak ! What are the w r ords that you are about 
to utter ? 

chorus. — Unless you shall lay yourself under some faith- 
ful obligation to this train 

king. — What will the device of the zones effect for you ? 

chorus. — We will adorn these images with new tablets. 

king. — Your words are mysterious: explain in what 
manner you mean to adorn them. 

chorus. — We will suspend ourselves, as quickly as pos- 
sible, from the statues of these Gods. 

king. — I hear words that pierce my heart like a sword. 
chorus. — You understand our design; for 1 have now 
allowed you to see it more clearly. 

king. — We are encompassed on every side by difficulties, 



(1) " Quamvis hose quidem animam valdd commovent." — Scholefield. 

(2) " Virgines quse paulo generosiore erant animo, zonis ad suspendium 
abuti sunt solitse potius quam resti." Stanley. The examples which are 
quoted do not at all support this strange theory ; which we are surprised to 
find in a Commentator who ; s generally guided by good taste. The despair- 
ing virgins could not have been prompted to prefer the girdle by any more 
noble motive, than that it was convenient in emergencies, when a rope might 
not have been easily procured. 



THE SUPPLICANTS. 265 

that may not easily be overcome. A multitude of evils 
burst upon me like a torrent ; and this deep sea of cala- 
mity hath invaded me, without affording any safe passage 
across its waves, or any harbour of shelter from misfor- 
tune. For if, indeed, I shall not fulfil to you this boon, 
you have denounced a pollution, which no efforts can al- 
leviate: but if, on the other hand, standing before the 
walls, I should try the issue of the combat with the sons 
of iEgyptus, your kindred, how should not the loss be 
bitter, if men, in the cause of women, should stain with 
their blood the plain ? Yet, still it is necessary to revere 
the wrath of Jove, the protector of suppliants ; for there is 
no awe of higher power among mortals. Do you then, aged 
father of these virgins, having quickly taken these boughs 
in your arms, place them on the other altars of the Gods 
of this country, that all the citizens may see the signs of 
your arrival : but let no allusion be made to me ! ; for the 
people are eager to attach blame to those in power. And 
perhaps some compassion, at the sight of these objects, 
may awake detestation for the insolence of the band of 
males, and the people become more disposed to your fa- 
vour ; for every one bears good- will to the weaker. 

danaus. — This kindness is highly prized by us, that we 
should find a revered host propitious to our claims. But 
send along with us some of the people of this country, as 
attendants and guides ; so that we may find, in front of the 
temples, the altars and seats of the Gods who protect the 
State ; and that we may be safe, as we proceed through the 
city. The appearance of our persons is not like that of 
the natives ; for the Nile breeds a race that is different 
from that of Inachus 2 . We must, therefore, beware lest 
boldness beget fear; for men have, through ignorance, 
slain their friends. 

king. — You may go, attendants ; for the stranger sug- 
gests what is prudent. Lead the way to the altars of the 

(1) " Neque projiciatur verbum de me."— Stanley. 

(2) Not the ancient king of the Argives ; but a river, that derived its 
name from him. 



266 ^ISCHYLUS. 

city, the seats of the Gods : and it is not fitting that yon 
should hold much talk with those whom you meet, as you 
conduct this stranger from the sea to the altar of the Gods. 

chorus. — You have given your commands to him ; and 
now may he go, in obedience to their injunctions. But 
what shall I do ? how will you give confidence to me ? 

king. — Leave your suppliant boughs here, in token of 
your distress. 

chorus. — And, in truth, I leave them as I am directed 
by your voice and hand K 

king. — Now turn your steps into this wide grove. 

chorus. — How can an unconsecrated grove protect me ? 

king. — We will not give you up, as the prey of ravenous 
birds. 

chorus. — But, what if you should deliver us to those 
who are more hateful than hostile dragons ? 

king. — Let your words be well-omened, as those with 
which you have been saluted. 

chorus — There is no wonder if, in the terror of my 
mind, I am impatient. 

king. — Fear is ever unworthy of kings 2 . 

chorus. — I pray you then, by your actions as well as 
words, to cheer my mind. 

king. — But your father shall not long be left alone; 
for I, having called together the people of this country, 
will persuade them in common, that I may render them 
favourable to you; and I will tell your father what he 
ought to say. Remain therefore, and supplicate in prayer 
the Gods of the country for those blessings which you are 
desirous to obtain : but I will return, when I have effected 
these objects ; and may persuasion attend me with good 
fortune to fulfil our desires ! 

(1) " Auctoritale et verbis tuis. Xetp, auctoritas, potentia." Pauw. — 
" Potius x^P a i fidem, interpretatus essem." Butler. The literal trans- 
lation of the word seems, to us, to make the sense quite as good. 

(2) " Non principum est timere : si tu times, non ego quoque.'* Sciiole- 
fiemx Wellauer suspects, from the imperfect sense, that some lines are 
wanting in this place 



THE SUPPLICANTS. 267 

chorus. — King of kings, most blessed of the blessed, 
and, among the perfect, most perfect Power — O Jove, su- 
preme in felicity, listen to our prayer, and let its wishes 
be granted ! Avert, in thy righteous indignation, the in- 
solence of the youths ; and sink in the dark depths of the sea 
their accursed bark, with all its swarthy crew ! Regarding 
the cause of women \ and our race of ancient fame that 
sprang from a woman who was dear to thee, renew the 
praise of thy former benevolence ! O let not the remem- 
brance slumber, how thy hand soothed the sorrows of Io 2 , 
from whom we boast our lineage, the offspring of this land 
in which we now dwell 3 ! For I have returned to the scenes 
where my mother roamed of old, to the flowery pastures 
where she was watched by Argus, to the meadow where 
the heifer fed, and whence Io, driven by the gadfly, fled 
in delirium, passing through many tribes of mortals ; and 
she touched the limits of the two opposite continents, 
having found a path, as the Fates had ordained, through 
the billows of the sea 4 . In her course through the realms 
of Asia, she traversed Phrygia, the land of flocks; and 
she passed the city of Teuthras in Mysia, and the Lydian 
fields; and held her impetuous way through the moun- 
tains of Cilicia and Pamphylia, by the rivers whose streams 
are ever full 5 , by the land 6 that teems with wealth, and by 

(1) " Id quod ad mulieres attinet, vel preces qua a mulieribus proficiscun- 
tur respiciens, erga antiquum nostrum genus a dilectd progenitrice muliere 
oriundum, renova laudem benevolam." — Wellauer. 

(2) " Fac, O tu, qui olim contrectatione tud Ionem imprcegnasti, ut nunc 
ejus rei diligenter recorderis /" — Schutz. 

(3) "Sensusest: Gloriamur hujus terra incolcB esse> (erant enim turn 
in ea) qui originem etiam ex ed duxerunt." — Wellauer. 

(4) " Bis vero fati necessitate adacta fretum maritimum, nempe Bospo- 
rum Thracium, et Bosporum Cimmerium, nando superans, ad oppositam 
continentem pervenit." Schutz. "A*x^ oplfet, utrinque tangit, utrumque 
terminum tangit, h. e. ex hoc littore ad illud transit." Scholefield. 

(5) *' Fluminum Syrise, quae Tauro, Amano, Libano prodeunt, con- 
tinues cursus, rivis Peloponnesi comporlit, maxima anni parte aqua 
carentibus." — M'ller. 

(6) Lydia, or Phoenicia; but more probably the latter. 



268 ^SCHYLUS. 

the fertile region 1 that is sacred to Venus. At length she 
came, her winged herdsman impelling her with the sting, 
to the divine and genial grove, to the meadows whose 
streams are fed by the snows, and over which flows, be- 
neath the influence of warm gales, the salubrious water of 
the Nile, maddened by her ignominious toils, and by the 
torturing pangs inflicted by the divine Juno. The mortals 
who then inhabited that land were agitated in their minds 
by pale fear at the unwonted sight, beholding an intracta- 
ble animal that shared the human form, partly a heifer 
and partly again a woman ; and they were deeply amazed 
at the prodigy. Who was it that then soothed the wretched 
Io, after her many wanderings and the persecutions of 
the gadfly ? It was Jupiter, the Lord of unceasing time ; 
****** But the violence of her 

malady was banished by the unconquered might of the 
God, and by the afflation of his divinity ; and Io, restored 
to her senses, shed the tears of sorrow and shame at the 
remembrance of her former state. But having received, 
as is truly said, the offspring of Jove in her womb, she 
gave birth to a blameless son, whose life, through long 
years, was crowned with bliss : whence all the earth ex- 
claims, that the vital germ of this race was truly derived 
from Jove ; for who could have brought to a close the in- 
sidious diseases inflicted by Juno ? This was the work of 
Jove : and if you say that this race is sprung from Epa- 
phus, you will not err from the truth. Whom of the Gods, 
then, could I justly invoke, to sanction more righteous 
deeds ? — the Father from whom our line is sprung — the 
King who created it by his touch — the wise and mighty 
founder of our ancient race — Jove, by whose favour alone 
every device reaches its completion ! For he does not, 
beneath the rule of another, enjoy a power inferior to the 
highest; nor, as a subject, revere any monarch enthroned 
above him ; but, when his fiat is declared, effective power 
is present to fulfil at once the counsels which the wisdom 
of his mind shall suggest. 

(1) Syria. 



THE SUPPLICANTS. 269 

danaus. — Be of good cheer, my children ! The proceed- 
ings of the natives are favourable : authoritative decrees 
of the people have been passed. 

chorus. — O hail, old man ! for you have announced to 
me the dearest tidings. Tell me how the decision was 
ratified, and for what sentence the prevailing votes of the 
people abounded? 

danaus. — The opinions of the Argives were not divided 
on the question, but were such as to restore the spirit of 
youth to my aged mind ; for, in the full assembly, the air 
bristled with the uplifted right-hands of those who ap- 
proved the decree ; That we should be permitted to dwell 
in this land, without loss of freedom ; that we should be 
considered as pledges that could not be redeemed, and 
held as exempt from violence among men ; and that no 
one, either of the inhabitants or of strangers, should re- 
move us : but if force should be attempted, that he of 
these citizens who did not assist us should be dishonoured, 
and driven in exile from the people. The king of the 
Pelasgians persuaded them, by delivering a speech re- 
specting our claims ; in which he bade them beware, lest, 
at some future time, the great wrath of Jove, the protec- 
tor of suppliants, should descend heavily on this city ; and 
denounced, that if there arose in the State a double pollu- 
tion which affected both the laws of hospitality and the 
honour of the city, it would prove an inexhaustible source 
of calamity. The Argive people having heard his argu- 
ments, decreed by their votes, without waiting for the 
summons of the Herald, that this sentence should be 
passed. The Pelasgic citizens listened to the persuasive 
turns of his popular harangue, and Jupiter granted the 
desired end. 

chorus. — Come now, let us, in return for good, utter 
good prayers for the Argives ! and may Jove, the protec- 
tor of strangers, truly regard the honours of a stranger's 
words, and without failure grant the full completion of 
our vows ! Now at length, ye Gods descended from Jove, 
hear us, as we pour the prayer for blessings to this race ! 



270 AESCHYLUS. 

May never fierce Mars, who reaps his harvest of slaughter 
in forbidden fields l , raise his joyless shout as he wraps in 
flames this city of the Pelasgians ! for they have had com- 
passion for our wrongs, and have passed a decree in our 
favour. They have respected the suppliants of Jove, and 
the abject fortunes of this band ; nor have they lent their 
votes to the support of the men, disowning the cause of 
women ; but have regarded the unconquerable Deity, who 
marks and avenges guilt, whom no house would wish to 
pollute its roofs ; for he descends on them with heavy visi- 
tation. They have received with pious reverence their 
kindred, the suppliants of sacred Jove; and they shall 
therefore please the Gods, when they approach their holy 
altars. Let, then, the prayer that rises in their honour 
proceed from our veiled lips 2 . May never pestilence bring 
desolation on the city of these men ! nor may war stain 
the plain of this land with the bleeding bodies of her 
fallen people ! May the flower of her youth be spared ! 
and may the lover of Venus, the homicide Mars, never 
sweep to destruction her blooming race ! May her altars, 
at which the aged attend, be thronged with an honoured 
priesthood, and blaze with the sacrifice, that the city may 
be ruled aright! May the people venerate the mighty 
Jove; but above all, Jove the protector of the stranger 3 , 
who directs Fate by the laws of hoary antiquity ! We 
pray, that successive Rulers of this land may ever be born ! 
and that Diana, who sends her shafts from afar, will watch 
over the travail of the women ! May no deadly pestilence 
invade this city with its ravages, banishing the dance and 
the notes of the lyre, to awake the sorrows of war and the 
groans of a people ! May all the host of diseases encamp 
afar from the citizens, and be forbidden to enjoy their 

(1) " Agris metens in aliis, quam quibus solet metV — Wellauer. 

(2) " c Yiro<rKia>v, velato pro sexus decore vultu." — Muller. Stanley 
supposes the epithet to refer to the boughs of olive which the Danaides 
carried in their hands ; but the sense is not, thus, so simple or natural. 

(3) u Magnum Jovem venerentur, hospitalcm autem mcurim&." — Wei. 

LAUER. 



THE SUPPLICANTS 271 

power, while the Lycian God 1 is propitious to all the 
youth ! May Jove crown the fruitful earth with the ful- 
ness of increase at every season ! may the flocks that feed 
before the city be in like manner productive of numerous 
young ! and may the people receive every blessing from 
the Gods ! May the Muses and the Goddesses of Song 
awake their glad notes ; and may the strain that loves the 
symphony of the lyre be poured from chaste lips ! May 
the public Magistracy which governs the city, provident in 
its wise counsels for the common weal, preserve the sanc- 
tity of its honours ! and may our rulers be inclined to 
grant to strangers the terms of easy conciliation, without 
arming Mars, or encountering disaster ! May they honour 
the Gods of their country, who preside over this land, 
with the laurel wreath and the sacrifice of the herd, accord- 
ing to the institutes of their fathers ! for the reverence 
of parents 2 is inscribed the third in the Laws of supreme 
Justice. 

danaus. — I approve, my dear children, of these wise 
prayers : but do not be alarmed when you hear from your 
father new and unexpected tidings : for I behold, from the 
heights of your suppliant station, the ship 3 , which is too 
clearly seen to deceive my eye ; for the folds of the sails 
may be plainly discerned, and the benches of the rowers, 
and the prow which marks out the way in advance with its 
eyes 4 , and, as if unfriendly to our wishes, too well obeys 
the guidance of the helm in the stern of the ship. The 
crew may be distinctly seen, with their black limbs that 
appear from their white garments ; and other vessels, and 
all the train that are to assist their enterprise, may now 

(1) In this petition against diseases, Apollo is naturally invoked as the 
God of Medicine ; but the propriety of the epithet, by which he is de- 
signated, seems, in this case, to be questionable. 

(2) "Nimirum qui more majorum deos colunt, ipsis quoque majoribus 
et parentibus ea re honorem habent, quod ritus sacros ab ipsis acceptos 
haud aboleri patiantur." — Schutz. 

(3) " Signate rb ttAchov, navem video; sc. illam quam venturam metui- 
mus." — Abresch. 

(4) " Respicit etymoiogiam vocis irpoopa quasi Trpoopa." — Stanley. 



272 AESCHYLUS. 

be discerned. But the ship which leads the way, having 
furled her sails by the shore, is rowed along with the 
strongest efforts. You ought, therefore, to regard this 
matter calmly and discreetly, and not to neglect these 
Gods ; and I will return, when I have procured those who 
will assist in our defence, and assert our rights. 

chorus. — But perhaps some herald or ambassador may 
come, wishing to seize and carry us off as pledges. 

danaus. — None of these things shall happen : have no 
apprehension of them. 

chorus. — Yet it were better, if we do not soon receive 
aid, not to forget the Powers who here afford us protection. 

danaus. — Be of good cheer : at the appointed day and 
hour shall every one of mortals who contemns the Gods 
suffer punishment. 

chorus. — Father, I am afraid, since the swift-winged 
ships have arrived, and no long time will elapse before 
their crews appear. I am, in truth, agitated by the utmost 
dread whether my long flight will be of any advantage to 
me. I faint, my father, through terror. 

danaus. — Since the decree of the Argives has been 
passed, my children, be of good cheer ; for I am sure they 
will fight in your defence. 

chorus. — The furious sons of iEgyptus are reckless in 
their deeds, and insatiate of battle : I speak to one who 
knows their character ; and having many firmly-compacted 
ships with azure prows, they have sailed hither in wrath, 
that has succeeded in its aim, with a numerous host of 
sable warriors. 

danaus. — And they shall find many here, whose arms 
have been strung to toil in the noon-tide heat. 

chorus. — But O do not leave me alone, I beseech you, 
father ! A woman, if unaided, is powerless ; and no spirit 
of Mars inspires her. Our enemies bear the counsels and 
thoughts of guile in their impious minds, seeking their 
prey like ravens, and reverencing in nought the altar. 

danaus. — It would much avail our cause, O my children ! 
if they were detested both by you and the Gods. 



THE SUPPLICANTS. 273 

chorus. — They will not, O father, through reverence 
of these tridents, or the sanctity of the Gods, restrain 
their hands from us ; for they are fierce in excess, mad- 
dened by impious rage, emboldened with canine fury, and 
deaf to the commands of the Gods. 

danaus. — But they say that wolves are more than a 
match for dogs ' : and the fruit of the papyrus does not 
surpass the ears of corn. 

chorus. — We must guard against their might ; for they 
own the dispositions of cruel and savage beasts. 

danaus.— The motions of a naval armament are slow ; 
nor is a station soon found, nor the cables stretched with 
safety to the shore ; nor do the commanders of ships rea- 
dily feel confidence in the anchorage, especially when they 
approach a shore without a harbour. When the sun sinks 
in darkness, the night is wont to be the parent of cares to 
the prudent pilot. There cannot, therefore, be any safe 
landing of their bands before the ship be secured in her 
station. But beware, lest, in your alarm, you neglect to 
seek the assistance of the Gods. The city shall not have 
cause to blame its aged messenger, who retains the vigour 
of youth in his thoughts and language. 

chorus. — O land of mountains, just object of our re- 
verence, what shall we suffer ? Whither can we fly for re- 
fuge in the Apian land 2 , if the shades of concealment may 
yet be found? \ Would that I were the black smoke 
ascending to the confines of the clouds of Jupiter, and dis- 
appearing for ever from the view ! or would that I might 
rise into the air like dust without wings, and be lost to the 

(1) "As the Chorus had compared the sons of iEgyptus to ravening 
dogs, Danaus expresses the Grecians by wolves, as stronger and fiercer 
animals : perhaps it would be too great a refinement with Stanley to de- 
rive the former allusion from their Anubis, and the latter from the 
Apollo AuKeto?. The comparison is continued in the next line; where. the 
papyrus, whose root was a common food in Egypt, is despised, as inferior to 
the corn of Greece." — Potter. 

(2) "Stanleius vertit: quo fugiamus Apia a terra. Malim, in quern 
locum Apia; terra; fugiamus. Sic tto? 7^ <pvyoo, non est, quo fugiam a terra, 
sed, quo terra/rum fugiam"- Arnald. 

T 



274 jESCHYLUS. 

earth ! My heart x*an no longer refrain from flight 1 , and 
my gloomy spirit is thrilled with dread. The sight that my 
father described has undone me : I sink beneath my fears. 
May I perish by the fastenings of the fatal noose, before a 
detested man approach me with rude hand ! and may Pluto, 
ere that hour, receive my shade in his dominions ! O that 
I could attain to a seat in the realms of air, where the snow 
and the watery clouds have their birth ; or a rugged rock, 
inaccessible to goats, of undiscovered height, and in the 
solitude of whose hanging cliffs the vultures build their 
nest 2 , that it might witness my fall from its steeps before 
[ be constrained to a marriage that rends my heart ! For 
then I should not refuse to be a prey to dogs, or to feast 
the birds of this country; since death 3 would bring me a 
release from mournful calamities : and I pray that its fate 
may be mine, before I ascend the nuptial couch ! What 
means for my safety, and what escape from the marriage, 
can I now devise ? Uplift your voices to heaven, in strains 
that supplicate its Powers ; and pray that your wishes may 
be consummated, and may bring my deliverance. Look 
down, O Father, on the strife ; and let thy just eyes re- 
gard, but not with favour, the deeds of violence ! Take 
pity on thy suppliants, O Jupiter, Ruler of the earth, and 
God of infinite power ! For the male offspring of iEgyp- 
tus, intolerable in their insolence, pursuing me in haste, 
seek to seize by violence, me, who have vainly sought safety 
in a mournful flight. But do thou, as Arbiter of all, ba- 
lance thy scales ! for what without thee is perfected to 

(1) " Parum abest quin cor mihi abitum et fugam paret. Seu ut Plautus : 

Cor colligatis vasis exspectat meum, 

Ut exulatum a pectore aufugiat meo." — Abresch. 

(2) " Vultures in excelsissimis rupibus nidificant, adeb ut nidos eorum 
nemo attingat." — Plin. Hist. Nat. x. 6. 

(3) "Cuivis hie in mentem veniet nobilis ille nostratis ^Eschyli locus in 
ragoedia cui titulus Hamlet, Act III. Sc I. 

who would fardels bear. 

And groan and sweat under uneasy burdens, 

When he himself might his quietus make 

With a bare bodkin ? " Bi'ti.kk. 



THE SUPPLICANTS. 275 

mortals ? Alas ! alas ! the ravisher, descending from the 
ship, approaches along the shore. But may you, O ra- 
visher, after having disembarked, be the first to suffer 1 ! 
I raise the cry of woe. I see that these preludes indicate 
the approach of my violent sufferings. Alas ! alas ! haste 
in flight to the protection of the altar ! Our enemy boasts 2 
of that which is cruel and intolerable on sea or shore. 
Stand forth, O King, in our defence ! 

HERALD. 

Haste, haste, with all speed to the ship 3 ! 

chorus. — Shall there not then be tearings, and stab- 
bings, and the bloody and fatal severing of the head ? 

herald. — Haste, ye abandoned wretches ! haste, with a 
mischief, to the ship ! I shall now force you, with the tri- 
umph of a master, to the waves of the briny deep, and to 
the well-compacted ship ; and place you, covered with 
blood, on its deck, where you may afterwards shriek as 
you please. I imperiously command you to banish from 
your mind its desires and phrensy 4 . 

chorus, — Alas ! alas ! 

herald. — Leave these seats, and proceed to the ship. 
I do not reverence the Gods who are worshipped in this 
city. 

chorus. — I pray that I may never again behold the 
genial waters of the Nile, whence the life-blood of mortals 
is quickened with vigour. I cling, old man, a pious votary 
to these sacred seats. 

(1) "Pro kclkkck; Schiitz. conjecit Kaj3j3a<;. Prius ipse patiaris, post- 
quam in terram descenderis." Scholefield. The merit of the emen- 
dation is due to Stanley, from whom Schiitz borrowed it. 

(2) Scholefield judiciously follows Wellauer, in taking x^da as a verb : 
" Jactat ferocia et intoleranda" 

(3) " The timid modesty of these Virgins, and the sober piety of Da- 
naus, are finely contrasted with the brutal insolence and sacrilegious 
violence of the ^Egyptian Herald : this carries the distress to its greatest 
height, raises our pity and terror, and adds a peculiar lustre to the calm 
dignity of Pelasgus in the next scene." — Potter. 

(4) It is needless to point out to the Reader, that this speech of the Herald, 
and many of the latter passages of this play, are exceedingly corrupt. 

t 2 



276 .ESCHYLUS. 

herald. — But you shall quickly go, whether you will 
or not, by strong compulsion to the ship. Depart hence, 
then, to the ship, ere you suffer evil from the violence of 
my hands. 

chorus. — Alas ! alas ! May you perish, where no hand 
can save, in the plains of ocean, and be tossed by the sweep- 
ing winds round the sandy promontory of Sarpedon ' ! 

herald. — Shriek, and rend your robes, and invoke the 
Gods ; for you shall not escape from the Egyptian bark. 
Shriek, and pour forth your most bitter wailings, bearing 
the name of grief. 

chorus. — Alas ! alas ! the pollution from the shore 
threatens us most fiercely: you boast of the dangers that 
approach us ; but as for your demands, may the great Nile 
overwhelm you, for having insulted us with this outrageous 
wrong ! 

herald. — I command you to proceed as quickly as pos- 
sible to the returning ship 2 : let no one delay; for the 
hand that drags you shall not respect your locks. 

chorus. — Alas ! alas, my father ! the promised aid of 
men has been my ruin. He drags me to the sea, as the 
spider slowly drags its victim. O vision, black with horror ! 
Alas, O mother Earth, avert the sounds of fear ! O Jupi- 
ter, son of Earth, come to our aid ! 

herald. — I do not fear the Gods of this country ; for they 
neither nourished my youth, nor reared me to old age. 

chorus. — A biped serpent rages near me, and would 
gnaw me like a viper ! Alas O mother Earth, avert the 
sounds of fear ! O Jupiter, son of Earth, come to our aid ! 

herald. — Unless each shall go to the ship, in obedience 
to my commands, rending shall not spare the texture of 
her robe. 

chorus. — O princes, who rule this city, I am over- 
powered ! 

(1) The Promontory of Sarpedon was on the coast of Cilicia. 

(2) " Verte : in navem revertentem. Dum enim altercantur Virgines 
et Praico credibile erat navein circumactam a remigio proram pelago ob- 
vertissc; quippe in iEgyptum cum captivis reversuram." — Heath. 



THE SUPPLICANTS. 277 

herald. — It seems I must drag you away by the hair, 
since you do not quickly obey my commands. 

chorus. — We are undone ! we suffer, O King, unexpected 
wrongs ! 

herald. — You shall quickly see many kings, the sons of 
iEgyptus. Be of good cheer : you shall not have to com- 
plain of a want of rulers. 

king. — Ho you ! What are you about ? By what auda- 
city have you been led to insult this land of Pelasgic men ? 
Do you think you have come to a city of women ? Being 
a Barbarian, you assume too much insolence towards 
Greeks ; and having fallen into many errors, you have 
judged nothing rightly in your mind. 

herald. — What error have I committed in these pro- 
ceedings, contrary to justice ? 

king. — In the first place, you know not how to conduct 
yourself, as a stranger. 

herald. — How have I shewn the contrary ? I, finding 
what was lost 

king. — Having applied to which of the natives as 
patrons ' ? 

herald. — To Mercury, the greatest patron of search. 

king. — Having addressed the Gods, you do not shew 
reverence for their authority. 

herald. — I venerate the Gods of the Nile. 

king. — And not at all those of this country, as I under- 
stand you. 

herald. — I would take these virgins away, if no one 
shall rescue them. 

king. — You will repent, if you touch them ; and that 
shortly. 

herald. — I hear words that are by no means friendly to 
a stranger. 

king. — For I will not receive as friends those who despoil 
the Gods. 

(1) " Alludit sc. ad morem, quo peregrini omnes unum aliquem e civi- 
bus Atheniensibus sibi deligere coacti sunt, cujus clientele ac fidei se 
commendarent, et, quo patrono jus peterent, neque enim per se petere 
licebat." — Butler. 



278 jESCHYLUS. 

herald. — Go, and announce your purpose to the sons of 
j^Egyptus J ! 

king. — That is a matter of indifference to my mind. 

herald. — But that, knowing the truth, I may more 
clearly tell it (for it becomes a herald to relate every cir- 
cumstance distinctly), how shall I say, and by whom, that 
I come deprived of this band of kindred women ? Mars 
does not decide such a plea by witnesses ; nor does he end 
the strife by accepting silver : but there must first be the 
fall of many men, and many struggles of expiring life. 

king. — Why should I tell you my name ? Learning it in 
good time, both you, and those who came hither with you, 
shall have cause to remember it. But you may take away 
these virgins, according to the free and willing inclination 
of their minds, if just arguments can persuade them ; for 
an unanimous decree has been passed, by the public con- 
sent of the State, never to give up on compulsion this train 
of women ; and the nail has been securely driven through 
this resolve 2 , so as to remain immoveable. This answer is 
not inscribed on tablets, nor sealed in the folds of letters ; 
but you hear its clear declaration, in the free words of my 
tongue. — Depart with all speed from my sight ! 

herald. — Be assured, then, of this consequence, that you 
will be involved in a new war ; and may victory and 
strength be to the males ! 

king. — But you will find male inhabitants of this land, 
who do not drink the wine of barley 3 . Now, virgins, take 
courage ; and all repair, with your friendly attendants, to 



(1) " Abiens hcec nuncia— q. d. talia magistris meis exprobare non au- 
deres. Deinde cl^ovkoX^tov rovro, id inihi non cures est, has niinas nihil 
morory — Scholefield. Wellauer rather palliates the extreme impu- 
dence of the Herald, by supposing him ignorant of the rank of Pelasgus : 
" Prseco, se cum rege loqui ignorans, jubet eum ipsum luec convicia ad 
jEgyptios perferre, deinde quum rex hoc personre sure convenire negasset, 
quperit prpeco, quis sit."' 

(2) " Metaphoram poeta a legum tabula serea aut lignea clavis affixa 
petiisse videtur."— Schutz. 

(3) " Ut iEgyptii solebant : de quibus Herodotus II. 77 : OiW 3' e/c KpiQeav 
Teiroirj/ueva) Siaxptoavrai, ov 'yap <r(f)i eicriv ev ry x^/ '* ofjnre\oi.^ — Stanley. 



THE SUPPLICANTS. 279 

the well-fortified city, surrounded with the defence of lofty 
towers. Within its walls are many public abodes ; and my 
palace has been reared with costly labour. It is pleasant 
to live in wealthy mansions, along with many others : but, 
if you prefer it, you may inhabit a private dwelling. Of 
these, it is in your power to choose that which seems best 
and most agreeable to you: but I will be your patron, as 
well as all the citizens, by whom this decree has been 
passed. What higher authority should you seek ? 

chorus. — In return for your bounties, may you be blessed 
with the bounties of fortune, O divine king of the Pelas- 
gians ! But have the kindness to send hither our father 
Danaus, firm and prudent in his mind, the author of our 
counsels ; for his opinion shall decide where we ought to 
dwell, and where we may be situated apart from envy. 
Every one is ready to utter reproaches against strangers ; 
but may a fairer fortune be granted to us ! 

king. — Without reproach, or angry rumour of the people, 
do ye also inhabit this country, ye friendly attendants, 
according as Danaus has assigned your services as a por- 
tion to each of his daughters. 

danaus. — We ought, O my children, to offer vows and 
sacrifices and libations to the Argives, as to the Olym- 
pian Gods; since they undoubtedly have been our pre- 
servers ; and they have heard from me, with indignation, 
what measures we have been forced to take against the 
persecutions of kindred friends \ They have also assigned 
to me these attendants and guards, that I might have an 
honourable distinction, and that I might not unexpectedly 
or secretly perish by the fatal wound of the spear, and 
become a perpetual pollution to the country. Since we 
have obtained such benefits, you ought to regard, with even 
higher honour than is due to me, this willing benevolence 2 

(1) " iriKpodq r)Kov<rav, cum indignatione audiverunt, quod negare Butl. 
miror. Deinde, si sana omnia, qua fecerimus contra amicos pertinaces, 
consanguineos nostros." — Scholefield. 

(2) " Benevolam mentis gratiam. Upvfxvri est puppis in qua gubernacu- 
lum, quo ipsa navis flectitur. Inde metaphorice evirpv,uvrj<; xapis <ppevb<; 
est propensum animi beneficinm." — Butler. 



280 ^ISCHYLUS. 

of the public mind : and you shall inscribe these precepts^ 
in addition to the many wise admonitions of your father 
impressed on your thoughts, so that the merits of this 
unknown train may be discovered in time. Every one is 
ready to direct the tongue of slander against a stranger ; 
and it is an easy matter to give utterance to calumny. I 
would therefore exhort you, since you have this bloom of 
life which attracts the eyes of men, not to bring dishonour 
on your father. The ripening fruits of youth may not 
easily be preserved. Wild beasts and men work their 
ruin ; and the tribes of earth and air alike seek them for 
their prey. Venus forbids the juicy fruits to be unknown ; 
and I may even affirm that she will not suffer the unripe 
produce to be spared. Every one that passes by throws 
the darted looks of love on the charms of beauteous vir- 
gins, and owns the empire of desire. Let us not, there- 
fore, suffer those evils, to avoid which we have endured 
many toils, and traversed distant seas; nor let us work 
disgrace to ourselves, and pleasure to my enemies. Two 
abodes are here offered to you; of which Pelasgus gives 
one, and the State the other, to be inhabited without remu- 
neration l . In this our fortunes are prosperous : only re- 
member to observe the injunctions of your father, and to 
honour chastity more than life. 

chorus. — May we prosper in other things by the blessing 
of the Olympian Gods ! But be not alarmed, O father, on 
account of my youthful bloom ; for if no new counsel has 
been decreed by the Gods, I will not depart from the path 
of my former thoughts. 

semi-chorus. — Haste now to celebrate the blessed Gods 
who rule this city and protect its walls, and those who 
dwell by the waves of the ancient Erasinus 2 . 

semi-chorus. — Let the attendant train take up the song. 
Let praise be given to this city of the Pelasgians ; and let 



(1) Stanley and Pauw ridiculously translate \arpcov arepOev by "sine 
famulis" 

(2) "In Argolico sunt noti amnes, Erasinus atque Inachus." — Pom- 
ponku Mela, ii. 1 



THE SUPPLICANTS. 281 

us no longer do homage with our hymns to the Mouths of 
the Nile. 

semi-chorus. — But let us celebrate the rivers which 
pour through this country their liberal waters, bestowing 
plenteous increase, and diffusing through the soil of these 
plains their sweet and fertilizing streams. 

semi-chorus. — May chaste Diana regard with pity this 
virgin train ! and may no marriage that constrains our will 
be sent by Venus ! Our hearts abhor such an award. 

semi-chorus. — But this grateful strain forgets not the 
Cyprian Goddess ; for she equals Juno in her high influ- 
ence with Jove ; and the delusive power of her divinity is 
acknowledged in her mighty works. 

semi-chorus. — And there are present, as companions to 
the Mother of Love, Desire and Persuasion, to whose 
soothing charms nought is ever denied : and to Harmonia 
have been imparted the powers of Venus, and the deceitful 
ways of love. 

semi- chorus. — But again, I dread the urgency of flight, 
and bitter sorrows, and bloody wars. Why, if not for my 
ruin, have they prospered in their voyage, and in their 
rapid pursuit ? 

semi- chorus. — That which is decreed by the Fates must 
come to pass K The high and mighty purposes of Jove are 
not to be transcended ; and these nuptials may, in their 
issue, resemble the nuptials of many former women. 

semi-chorus. — May the great Jupiter ward off from me 
the marriage of the sons of vEgyptus ! 

semi-chorus. — That fortune were the happiest : but you 
seek to soothe by prayers the inexorable. 

semi-chorus. — But you at least have not read the future. 

semi-chorus. — How should I be able to discern the will 
of Jove, which is deeply hidden from human view ? Pray 
now for what is moderate. 

(1) "This is an allusion, dark as it ought to be, to the future fortune 
of these persecuted ladies : their story is well known. The Epistle of 
Hypermnestra to Lynceus, by Ovid, is a fine supplement to this tra- 
gedy." — Potter. 



282 .ESCHYLUS. 

semi-chorus. — What moderation do you teach me ? 

semi-chorus. — Not to bear with impatience the dispen- 
sations of Heaven. 

semi-chorus. — May we be rescued from the hostile nup- 
tials of these detested males by the royal Jupiter, who 
relieved Io from her sufferings by gently suppressing her 
pains with his healing hand, and who established her race 
by his beneficent might ! 

semi-chorus. — And may he award the victory to women ! 
for I approve of the lesser evil, and of that fortune which 
is not wholly bad 1 ; and that judgment should accord with 
justice, in unison with my prayers, that have obtained the 
saving help of the God. 

(l) " Malunt nimirum exsules esse, quam ^Egypti filiis nubere." — 

Schutz. 



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